By Henry Bryant
A committee has been meeting to try to encourage the restoration of the historic Madison Theatre in the East Atlanta Village. Meanwhile the owner Abe Asher and his family have shown no interest in a project like that. Some individuals have been researching the historic structure and have been in touch with the grandchildren of the original architects, Daniell and Boutell. They are getting up in years but loaned us this color drawing done by the architect. In newspaper articles from the winter of 1927 anticipating the building it was noted that the contracts had been let and construction was to begin at once. The cost of construction was to be $75,000 over and above the cost of the property. The capacity of the building was set at 1000. The business district along Flat Shoals was described as one of Atlanta’s most thriving suburban centers. The theatre came at a time when “talkies”, movies with sound, were starting to be shown. With a pipe organ and “modern screening equipment,” The Madison had the possibility of the theatre had the possibility of showing both silent and sound pictures. Like its cousin, The Fox, in midtown this theatre was to become part of a chain operated by the Universal Studios. The interior was to be lavishly appointed with elaborate plaster work, and a crying room with a glass window to allow parents with unruly children to retreat and still see the end of the movie. The design called for a meeting assembly room upstairs over the front of the house.
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