Built to show Western movies, the Aztec was updated with evaporative cooling and its present exterior and interior Mediterranean design in 1939. The theater closed in 1979. In 1990, civic leaders and local patrons formed The Aztec of Albany and raised funds to rehabilitate it for plays, concerts, and special events. The quirky, three-arched loggia facing Main Street is flanked by gabled bays with arches below and small triple arches above fitted with diminutive iron balconies. The exterior’s pink stucco finish is a gentle counterpoint to the rough stonework of other buildings along S. Main and provides a sense that life in the small town continues through generations.
Opposite at 144 Main, the Jacob-Fisher Building (1884, Patrick McDonnell, mason) has a two-story rock-faced limestone facade divided into three bays by dressed-stone pilasters. McDonnell also built the 1884 one-story building next door at number 140. The two-story former Albany National Bank (now the City Hall) at 148 S. Main dates to 1883.