Google
 

Chicago Movie Palaces: GRANADA THEATRE (1926 - 1989) Part 2

April 3rd, 2009 by Scott Marks

Part One here.

GRANADA THEATER: WRITTEN AND HISTORICAL DESCRIPTIVE DATA

B. Detailed Description of Exterior

1. Foundation. Not visible. Partial plans which have survived indicate that the foundations are reinforced concrete. There is no evidence of foundation failure.

2. Wall Construction. The exterior walls are framed with steel columns and purlins. The wall itself is brick masonry except on the west elevation where it is clad in terra cotta.

3. Structural System. The entire building is framed in steel, fireproofed with concrete. The roof is supported with steel trusses having parallel top and bottom chords. The balcony is also supported by a similar but larger steel truss and the roof over the stage is supported by smaller trusses of the same design.

4. Openings, Doorways and Windows. The principal entrance is at the southwest corner of the first floor of the building facing Sheridan Road. The street level entrance, now completely boarded up, originally consisted of four groups of paired doors grouped in a three, two, two, three configuration with the ticket office in the center between the two sets of two paired doors. Above the canopy is a tryptic of large windows consisting of a large center window in thirteen panels, with an oval stained glass section in the upper fan portion of the arched opening. On either side of the large central window is a slightly smaller multi-paned window with a half round head, all with clear glass. Below each of those side windows is a smaller vertical rectilinear window of similar configuration. All of these windows have been seriously vandalized. Many of the panes are now broken and the central window’s colored oval section is completely gone. There are other openings in the upper portion of the elevation which penetrate the facade above the roof line, but which are not glazed. Two “niches”, apparently for sculpture, are located above the two side windows. All of the windows have electric light sockets surrounding them. These, along with the elaborate canopy lighting, created a spectacular scene after dark during the heyday of the theater.

None of them are operative today.

There are no windows or doors in the south elevation of the Granada Theater.

The east elevation has four double doors and one single door at grade. There are nine single leaf doors serving three fire escapes. There are fourteen double hung windows, all concentrated at the south end of the structure.

The only windows at the rear of the auditorium are two small double hung windows at the second floor and lower balcony levels serving dressing rooms.

The light well or passage between the auditorium and the rear of the stores facing Sheridan Road has a number of openings on the theater side. The auditorium wall has four double doors at grade and six exit doors at upper levels leading to the fire escapes. There are seven double hung windows on this wall, concentrated at the north end. The rear elevation of the store fronts has three double doors at grade and five more doors serving the fire escapes. There are 22 double hung windows serving the second and third floors and 9 double hung windows (barred) in the rear of the stores. The second and third floor windows are all wood sash with three vertical planes in each sash.

5. Roof - Shape and Covering: The roof over the three-story store portion is a flat tar and gravel roof over the auditorium with sloped sections around the entire perimeter. This slope varies from 15 degrees to 25 degrees and extends from 25′ to 50′ from the top of the exterior walls to the edge of the flat upper roof. The roof is clad with an asphaltic coating over a membrane. There is evidence of leakage throughout the building, but not of a particularly severe nature. (It has, however, damaged much of the interior plaster.) There is a large ventilation structure on the roof along with a water tower and various other small mechanical elements located there.

C. Detailed Description of Interior

1. Floor Plans: The entrance lobby is located just south of the central ticket booth on the Sheridan Road side of the building. There is an exit lobby north of the ticket booth. From the entrance lobby, patrons moved through one of five pairs of doors into a marble floored, elaborately decorated ticket lobby surrounded by sixteen columns and having a low ceiling. The ticket lobby leads to the Grande Lobby at the south end of the auditorium. This area is 153 feet deep and 59 feet wide. The vaulted and coffered ceiling is 60 feet high at the highest point. At the left or north side of the Grande Lobby is a low ceilinged foyer leading to the auditorium through seven sets of double doors spaced across the rest of the auditorium. At the east end of the Grande Lobby is a spectacular marble staircase leading to the second floor. Behind that staircase is a ladies’ rest room and a stair leading to the basement. There is also a stair to the second floor and basement in the exit lobby.

The basement is essentially three separate spaces. First, there is a basement under the block of stores facing Sheridan Road, with each store having its own access stair. Second, the space under the Grande Lobby is fully excavated with the west half being devoted to mechanical equipment while the east half provides a large smoking room, as well as men’s and women’s rest rooms plus small ancillary rooms. The third basement area is under the stage where a storeroom, musicians’ room, some electrical and mechanical rooms and the base of the orchestra pit are located. There are several large ducts under the auditorium but no habitable rooms.

The first floor auditorium space occupies about 50% of the total first floor plan. It is approximately 165 feet wide and 115 feet deep on its major axes. The space is column free except for a ring of columns around the sides and rear which define circulation space. There are five seating aisles in addition to the side and rear aisles.  The stage is 32 feet deep and 98 feet wide. The mezzanine, lower balcony, upper balcony, and balcony, are constructed in a continuous “sweep” from front to rear over the main auditorium. These four spaces are defined primarily by the access levels from the rear off the various floors surrounding the upper Grande Lobby.

The mezzanine or second floor level is reached by way of the marble staircase noted earlier. There are restrooms at the east end, a promenade on the north leading to the lowest seats in the balcony through halls on the east and west. At the west end of this floor is a lounging room with a faux fireplace on the south and a stair down to the exit lobby and up to small upper level offices on the north. There are stairs at the east end of the mezzanine leading up to the lower balcony which does not have any other direct access or sight lines to the Grande Lobby, The stairs lead directly to a lower balcony lobby with access doors to the auditorium. Stairs at the east and west of this space lead to the upper balcony level where access up or down at the highest level of the theater is provided.

At this level, patrons could view the Grande Lobby from above since the access hallway is parallel to that space with an open loggia. There are also some offices and ushers’ rooms with locker space at the west end at this level.

2. Stairways: The grand staircase at the east end of the Grande Lobby is of white marble at both the first and second floor levels. It originally had huge white marble balusters and newel posts making up its balustrade. These have been removed by vandals. There are two marble stairs to the basement and to the upper levels from the mezzanine, all executed in marble but in a more restrained fashion. All stairs were originally carpeted except at the edges. Elaborate cast iron handrails and newel posts were originally in place on the secondary stairs, but have been removed.

3. Flooring: The box office has a wood floor and the entrance lobby has a marble floor as does the oval ticket lobby. The Grand Lobby floors are pink Tennessee marble, highly buffed, with marble baseboards. The other public area floors are primarily marble with carpeting in the heavy traffic areas. The floors of the auditorium on both the main level and balconies are cast in place concrete with carpeting. Offices and ancillary spaces have wood floors. The stage is floored in wood while the basement rooms below the stage are concrete. The floors in the storefronts
are all wood.

Continue reading Chicago Movie Palaces: GRANADA THEATRE (1926 - 1989) Part 2

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Filed Under Uncategorized

Chicago Movie Palaces: GRANADA THEATRE (1926 - 1989) Part 1

March 9th, 2009 by Scott Marks

The Granada Theater a few weeks before it met the wrecking ball.

It was my neighborhood theater. We lived a few blocks south on Thorndale and Broadway, and while the Devon was technically closer, if I had my way, and when it came to movies I always did, my parents went the extra few blocks.Well, almost always. They almost never turned left on Broadway to go to the Uptown or Riviera because, as Harry Dean Stanton so eloquently put it in Repo Man, they were located in a “bad area.”

The Granada will always be my one major link to movie theaters past, those ornately detailed picture palaces with seductive, block long marquees pulsing to the external rhythm of sequential light bulbs. It was huge.  I mean H-U-G-E: close to 3,500 seats and balconies that seemed to extend into the stratosphere. From the neon lettering to the carpeting, velvet ropes and snappy ushers’ uniforms it was red as far as the eye could see. Nowadays you’re lucky to find a poster box in front of each auditorium, but the Granada, and its sister theaters plastered their facades with reams of colorful exploitation. And gosh only knows if they ever dreamed of multiplexes with staggered showtimes.

What follows is a Historical Building Survey commissioned in 1989 and reading it recalls the glory and ultimate downfall of this remarkable temple of cinema. It was sent to me by a gentlemen researching the Marks Brothers theater chain inquiring whether I was a distant relative. Only in spirit. I must have accidentally deleted the email this document was attached to and I find myself in the embarrassing situation of not being able to properly thank him for handing down this fascinating document.

It’s long, so I’m afraid that we’ll have to post this one on the installment plan.

GRANADA THEATER: WRITTEN AND HISTORICAL DESCRIPTIVE DATA

Compiled by the Historic American Buildings Survey
National Park Service
Rocky Mountain Regional Office
Denver, Colorado

Location: 6427-6441 North Sheridan Avenue
Chicago, Illinois
Present Owner: Senior Life Styles Corporation
Present Occupant: Vacant
Statement of Significance: The Granada Theater is the last surviving example of a movie palace designed by the architectural firm of Levy & Klein with Edward E. Eichenbsum(sic) as principal designer. The building is a superb example of the excessively ornamented architecture used for theatres during the early days of moving pictures. Both its exterior, in terra cotta, and its interior, largely in plaster and marble, were then and still are unsurpassed in their outright architectural exuberance. Furthermore, the Granada was the largest theater built for its original owners, the Marks Brothers, and remains one of the largest surviving buildings of its type in the united states.

When completed in 1926, the building had a number of notable points of importance, including one of the most elaborate heating and air conditioning systems of the period. It is also the first freespan balcony truss in Chicago and the auditorium is still the largest column free theater space in Chicago. The valance above the stage is the only surviving valance in any of Chicago’s theaters.

The Granada has deteriorated badly during the past two years. It is in ruins. Its useful life is over.

Historian: Wilbert R. Hasbrouck, FAIA

Continue reading Chicago Movie Palaces: GRANADA THEATRE (1926 - 1989) Part 1

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Filed Under Uncategorized