The Lerner Theatre, previously known as the Elco Theatre, is a historic

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...

located at Elkhart,

Elkhart County, Indiana Elkhart County is a county located in the U.S. state of Indiana. , the county's population was 207,047. The county seat is Goshen. Elkhart County is part of the Elkhart- Goshen Metropolitan Statistical Area, which in turn is part of the Sout ...

, United States.

History

The Lerner Theatre was built in 1924, after Harry E. Lerner commissioned

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

architect K. V. Vitchum to design it. Built as a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

theatre, by the late 1920s it had evolved into a motion picture palace. Lerner sold it to

Warner Brothers Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

in 1932, who operated it for a couple of years under the name Warner Theatre. They redecorated it in red and gold and added the distinctive "waterfall curtain", and a "huge vertical marquee spelling out the theatre's name in bold letters" out the front. After Warner Brothers went bankrupt, the Indiana-Illinois Theatre took over in 1934. They held a contest to rename it, with Elco Theatre chosen as the winning name. In 1940, Manta & Rose Theatres acquired the Elco in 1940 and operated it for 20 years. They modernized it and took down the old vertical marquee, replacing it with a horizontal one. In 1961 the building was purchased by Miller Theaters, Inc., run by William Miller and his family, until it was closed in 1987. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1980. In 1990 Premier Arts, a non-profit group, purchased the Elco, intending to restore it for use as a

performing arts The performing arts are arts such as music, dance, and drama which are performed for an audience. They are different from the visual arts, which involve the use of paint, canvas or various materials to create physical or static art objects. P ...

venue. During the mid-1990s the city of Elkhart became involved, obtaining with funding from the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

. In 1996 restoration work began and the theatre was restored to its 1920 design. The Elco Commission for the Performing Arts was created in 1997. Renovation continued into the 21st century, and it reverted to its original name, Lerner Theatre.

Description

The theatre is a two-story, reinforced concrete and steel, Beaux-Arts style building. The front facade features four

Corinthian order The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Ancient Roman architecture, Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric or ...

columns, three freestanding urns, enriched cornice, parapet and frieze. The building is faced with

terra cotta Terracotta, also known as terra cotta or terra-cotta (; ; ), is a clay-based Vitrification#Ceramics, non-vitreous ceramicOED, "Terracotta""Terracotta" MFA Boston, "Cameo" database fired at relatively low temperatures. It is therefore a term used ...

and has a lighted canopy projecting over the sidewalk. The auditorium features a large central dome measuring in diameter. ''Note:'' This includes and Accompanying photographs. It is located in the Elkhart Downtown Commercial Historic District.

References

External links

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About the Lerner Theatre in Elkhart, IN
Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Indiana Beaux-Arts architecture in Indiana Theatres completed in 1924 Buildings and structures in Elkhart, Indiana National Register of Historic Places in Elkhart County, Indiana 1924 establishments in Indiana Individually listed contributing properties to historic districts on the National Register in Indiana {{ElkhartCountyIN-NRHP-stub