Granada Theater - Emporia, Ks.
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iconions
N 38° 24.465 W 096° 10.820
14S E 746205 N 4254822
This two-story theater is stucco-faced with brick sides and back. It is located at 807 N Commercial in Emporia, Ks.
Waymark Code: WMM8Y2
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 08/12/2014
Views: 3
From the National Register application:
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visit link)
"The Granada Theater was built in 1929 in an imaginative variation of the Spanish Colonial Revival Style. It occupies three lots in a downtown commercial block and directly abuts commercial buildings on both sides. It faces east on Commercial Street, which is the main north-south business street in Emporia.
The building is of masonry construction on a concrete and steel frame. The side party walls and rear wall are brick. The front (east) facade is faced with stucco.
The facade is symmetrical, consisting of a square central section flanked by two slightly-projecting tower-like end blocks. In the center of the facade at first-floor level is a set of three glass double doors which form the entrance to the theater. The doors are metal-framed replacements; the originals are believed to have been wood-framed. Directly above these doors is a marquee, also a recent replacement. On either side of the doors is a small commercial shop, the entrance to which is in a tiny shopfront in the base of each tower block.
Above the marquee is a set of four narrow, round-arched windows, separated by engaged Moorish columns and surmounted by a tile-trimmed hood decorated with terra cotta figurines of clowns. On either side is a small window covered by a diagonal trellis flush with the wall. In the upper wall of the central section are three tiny, octagonal windows with crossed metal bars. Over these is an arcaded corbel-table cornice and a false roof of ceramic tile. Above the entrance of each tower block is a decorative terra cotta scrollwork surmounted by a rectangular window covered with decorative iron grillwork. Above this is a small decorative window, at the top of each side block is a terra cotta niche lushly decorated in a Spanish Baroque manner. The tower blocks are gable-fronted and roofed with red tile.
The entrance opens into a square, tile-floored vestibule, in the center of which is a ticket booth with tiled walls. The ceiling of the vestibule has richly decorated plasterwork in an Arabesque pattern. Beyond the vestibule is the main lobby. The concession stand which now opens into the lobby is a later addition. From the lobby corridors open into the main paraquet. Stairs at each end of the main lobby lead to the second floor, which contains restrooms, an office, an upper lobby, and access to the theater balcony.
The theater auditorium contains several decorative niches along the walls, adorned with Arabesque plasterwork. The proscenium arch no longer exists, having been damaged in a fire in 1959 which also destroyed the theater organ. What remains of the proscenium has been refaced with brick, and covered up by a movie screen and new screen curtains. Behind this, however, the stage is still intact, although its curtain apparatus and fly were destroyed in the fire. The dressing room area beneath the stage is still intact also.
While there have been appreciable losses of historical integrity on both the interior and exterior of the theater, enough significant features remain intact for its character to be readily apparent."