The Lerner Theatre, Beaux-Arts theatre in Elkhart, United States
The Lerner Theatre is a two-story Beaux-Arts theatre in Elkhart, Indiana, built of reinforced concrete and steel and faced in terra cotta. Its front facade has four Corinthian columns, three freestanding urns, an enriched cornice, parapet and frieze, and a lighted canopy over the sidewalk. The auditorium holds a central dome 30–40 ft (9.1–12.2 m) across.
Harry E. Lerner commissioned Chicago architect K. V. Vitchum to design the theatre, built in 1924 as a vaudeville house; by the late 1920s it had become a motion picture palace. Warner Brothers bought it in 1932 and redecorated it in red and gold, adding a waterfall curtain and a vertical marquee. After a 1934 renaming contest it became the Elco, closed in 1987, and was restored from 1996 toward its 1920s design.
The name Elco came from a public renaming contest held in 1934, after the Indiana-Illinois Theatre took over the bankrupt Warner Theatre. The building later reverted to the name of Harry E. Lerner, who commissioned it in 1924. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and stands in the Elkhart Downtown Commercial Historic District.
The theatre stands in the Elkhart Downtown Commercial Historic District, with a lighted canopy projecting over the sidewalk at the entrance. The auditorium is covered by a central dome 30–40 ft (9.1–12.2 m) across, so seats beneath it sit under the widest span of the hall. The building is two stories, faced in terra cotta.
The auditorium's central dome measures 30 to 40 feet across, a feature easy to miss from the street. The facade carries four Corinthian columns, three freestanding urns and a lighted canopy over the sidewalk. The building is faced in terra cotta.
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