Granada Theater - Emporia, Ks.
Posted by: Groundspeak Premium Member 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: WMM8Y4
Location: Kansas, United States
Date Posted: 08/12/2014
Published By:Groundspeak Regular Member Big B Bob
Views: 3

From the Granada Theater website:
(visit link)

This location now has a stage that will do shows, movies, concerts, weddings, and corporate events.

From Wikipedia:
(visit link)

"The Granada Theatre is a theatre located in Emporia, Kansas, United States. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 and was designed by the Boller Brothers.

The Granada Theatre was constructed in 1929 at a cost of $350,000 ($4.81 million in 2014 dollars). Its 1,400-seat capacity made it one of the largest movie palaces in Kansas. The theatre was dedicated on October 3, 1929, in a speech by “The Sage of Emporia,” William Allen White. During its early years, the theatre attracted many famous performers. In addition to screening movies, it was used for everything from beauty contests to traveling vaudeville acts. It was leased for many years to the Fox Corporation and became known as the Fox Theatre.

Architect Robert O. Boller, of Boller Brothers, Architects, designed the Granada Theatre. Boller Brothers were nationally known theatre designers with offices in Kansas City and Los Angeles.

The theatre’s exterior is designed in the Spanish Colonial Revival style popular during the late 1920s. The stucco front façade features intricate terra cotta details, including five clowns, which provide a theatrical touch. The Spanish style is carried into the theatre with alcoves surrounded by gilded plaster details. Ornate plaster panels also lined the balcony rail and the proscenium arch.

Like many grand old movie palaces of its era, the Granada’s popularity declined during the 1960s and 70's. During this period, the building suffered from neglect and damage resulting from a leaking roof. It was closed in 1982. In April 1985, the theatre was placed on the National Register of Historic Places, but, it was not until demolition threatened the building in 1994 that a group of citizens rallied to save the theatre.

In cooperation with the Kansas Preservation Alliance, the Emporia Granada Theatre Alliance was formed and acquired the building, saving it from destruction. Since then, the Alliance members and numerous volunteers have spent countless hours stabilizing and renovating the outside of the building and preparing for the interior phase of the project. Working cooperatively with other local arts, cultural and tourism organizations, the Alliance has developed a plan to make the Granada Theatre a keystone facility – a place that builds community."

From the National Register application:
(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."
Year Theater Opened: 1929

Number of Screen(s): 0

Web site: [Web Link]

Ticket Price (local currency): Not Listed

Matinee Price (local currency): Not Listed

Concessions Available: Not Listed

Visit Instructions:
Must take a photo of the theater.
Please try to include yourself or gps in the picture.
Tell of your experience at the theater, if it is still a theater. If it is no longer a theater tell of an experience from the past at the theater, if this can be done.
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Recent Visits/Logs:
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wildernessmama visited Granada Theater - Emporia, Ks. 04/12/2016 wildernessmama visited it