Merced Theatre

The Merced Theatre is a theater building in 301 W. 17th Street, at the intersection of Main Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Merced, California. The theater is important because of its role as a social and cultural center of Merced on the global economic crisis to the period after the Second World War as well as the architecture of the Spanish Colonial Revival. Established in 1931 building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on May 1, 2009.

The Golden State Theatre Company commissioned the brothers Reid from San Francisco so, the Merced Theatre to design. Another notable building that Reid had designed was the Hotel del Coronado in San Diego. The state of the art at the time projection and sound equipment in operation and that the theater had air conditioning; it was so historically the second building in Merced, which was equipped with an air conditioner. They used castle-like facade and fans, the clouds artificially generated by hunting in the decorated ceiling with stars, to create a dramatic atmosphere.

The contractor Gian Battista Pasqualetti built steel of the Golden Gate Iron Works, wrought iron of San Jose Ironworks and tiles of the Hispano Maresque Tile Company in Los Angeles and implemented the plan of Reid Brothers for the multi-storey building, which consists of a steel frame and reinforced concrete. The walls are plastered. A 100- foot ( 30 m ) high tower rises above the canopy at the entrance and the orange block letters MERCED are visible for several kilometers.

In the lobby is a mural of the born in the Netherlands artist Antoon Bonaventure Hein mountains. It shows a scene from the Spanish colonial period. The furniture consists among other things of sofas and chairs in the style of that time. Originally the theater had been able to follow 1645 seats for spectators, film screenings and live performances.