Struthers Library Building, also known as the Library Theatre, is a historic

library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...

and

theatre Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors or actresses, to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The perform ...

building located at

Warren A warren is a network of wild rodent or lagomorph, typically rabbit burrows. Domestic warrens are artificial, enclosed establishment of animal husbandry dedicated to the raising of rabbits for meat and fur. The term evolved from the medieval Angl ...

Warren County, Pennsylvania Warren County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 38,587. Its county seat is Warren. The county was formed in 1800 from parts of Allegheny and Lycoming counties; attached to Crawford Coun ...

. It was built in 1883, and is a red brick building in three sections. It measures 73 feet wide by 162 feet deep. The front section is three stories high with a corner tower. The second floor housed a library and the third a meeting hall, which was originally used as the town's Masonic Temple. It has a marquee on the front elevation. Behind the front section is the

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...

and behind that a three-story section with dressing rooms and stage. The auditorium was originally built as a Victorian

opera house An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...

. The building was renovated in 1919 by the architectural firm of

Warren and Wetmore Warren and Wetmore was an architecture firm in New York City which was a partnership between Whitney Warren (1864–1943) and Charles Delevan Wetmore (June 10, 1866 – May 8, 1941), that had one of the most extensive practices of its time and w ...

. ''Note:'' This includes During the 1919 renovation, the auditorium was modified to make it suitable for movies and traveling

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

shows. In 1983, the auditorium underwent an extensive restoration, preserving the details of the 1919 renovation. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1975.

References

Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Libraries on the National Register of Historic Places in Pennsylvania Theatres completed in 1883 Library buildings completed in 1883 Buildings and structures in Warren, Pennsylvania National Register of Historic Places in Warren County, Pennsylvania {{Pennsylvania-NRHP-stub