Murphy Art Centre
1043 Virginia Avenue,
Indianapolis,
IN
46203
1043 Virginia Avenue,
Indianapolis,
IN
46203
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Abraham Katzow’s Virginia Realty Company announced on October 8, 1926, that it planned to erect a new motion picture and vaudeville theater at 1043 Virginia Avenue. H. Ziegler Dietz was named as architect in the October 9, 1926, Star article, which also contained a sketch of the proposed showplace. In January 1927 the Fountsquare Realty Corporation took over the project with no mention of why the change occurred.
Fountsquare Realty erected what became the Granada Theatre on land leased from William Gansberg for 99 years. Fountsquare’s principals were four Indianapolis businessmen: Mark Margolis, Leslie Colvin, Pierre Goodrich and Donald Graham. Colvin served as general contractor and built the structure. Graham, an architect and University of Illinois Plym Architectural Fellowship winner, drew the plans. Fountsquare leased the $500,000 theater to Universal Chain Theaters Corporation and Universal Chain Theater Enterprises, Inc. for 25 years.
The city building department approved the Fountsquare project in March 1927 just as the principals were finishing up construction of a new theater in Muncie, Ind.
April 8th, 1928 grand opening ad in photo section as well as
http://indystar.newspapers.com/clip/3483072/granada_opening/
http://indystar.newspapers.com/clip/3483076/granada_opening/
Historic Indianapolis article here
A film organization is moving into the former Granada Theater building now known as the Murphy Arts Center and will build a small screening roon within the facility: View link.
Check out http://www.fountainsquareindy.com/
This building is in the center of a historic area near downtown Indianapolis.