The size and height of the Kahl Building indicate how aggressively the community was trying to create the aura of a big-city downtown. The ten-story building was delicately clad in white terracotta over a steel frame. The design was inspired by classical architecture, but its lightness hints at the Gothic or the Hispanic Plateresque. The building houses a restaurant in the basement, a 2,400-seat theater, and additional space for offices. The theater, designed by the well-known Chicago-based theater specialists Cornelius W. Rapp and George L. Rapp, is luxuriously classical, including the landscape murals within the three half-bays. (These murals were restored in 1968.) Missing from the theater's entrance is its original curved roof marquee with incandescent lights and its five-story vertical sign.
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Kahl Building / Capitol Theater
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