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Temple Theatre–Elf Khurafeh Complex

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1927, Osgood and Osgood; 2003–2005 rehabilitation, Wigen, Tincknell, Meyer and Associates. 201 N. Washington Ave.

Osgood and Osgood of Grand Rapids, a firm experienced in the creation of Masonic temples, designed the theater and attached three-story clubhouse. It is a steel-frame building with masonry walls and reinforced-concrete floors. The theater and clubhouse spaces functioned independently, but accommodated the Shriners' occasional need for ceremonial and social uses. Henry C. Weber Construction Company of Bay City built it; Tuttle and Clark of Detroit executed the interior decoration. On completion W. S. Butterfield leased the theater from the Elf Khurafeh Temple, A.A.O.N.M.S. (Ancient Arabic Order Nobles of Mystic Shrine). For fifty years the large, substantial motion picture theater that also held live performances and vaudeville was the most important entertainment site in Saginaw. In 1977, the theater closed and stood vacant.

With private investment and federal historic preservation tax credits Samuel and Peter Shaheen rehabilitated the theater complex as a performing arts center. The theater's opulent interior was repaired and repainted by Conrad Schmitt. In 2010 the Shaheens gifted the Temple Theatre to the city with an endowment fund to ensure its preservation.

Writing Credits

Author: 
Kathryn Bishop Eckert
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Data

What's Nearby

Second National Bank of Saginaw Building
Bancroft-Eddy Building (Hoyt Block)
Michigan Bell Building
Castle Museum of Saginaw County History (U.S. Post Office [Castle Station])
Hoyt Public Library

Citation

Kathryn Bishop Eckert, "Temple Theatre–Elf Khurafeh Complex", [Saginaw, Michigan], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MI-01-SA19.

Print Source

Cover: Buildings of Michigan

Buildings of Michigan, Kathryn Bishop Eckert. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012, 318-318.

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