AgdaPkt 2016-09-12 Closed and Joint SA PFA

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Alpha Reference: G Historic Name: Alhambra Theater Address: 831-835 Main Street Construction Date: 1895 Parcel#: 053-233-230 This is the third facade for this building, built originally as the Alhambra Theatre in 1895. This first design, an early essay in the California Mission Revival, was by the San Fran- cisco architect A. Page Brown, an important experimenter with the style who was also the architect for the San Francisco Ferry Building. A second, less interesting facade, a stripped classical composition with brick or metal- stamped brick siding replaced the Mission Style front around 1910. Soon after the building was bought by Redwood City's Masonic Lodge No. 168 in the '20s, a third remodeling took place. This last remodeling unified the Masonic Temple with the I.O.O.F. headquarters next door. It is not as architecturally distinguished as the first, but its ltalianate window detailing is pleasing, and is in good repair. On January 20, 1896, the finest theater building between San Francisco and San Jose was opened here by Charles Josselyn of Woodside. The modern theater, with a seating capacity of 1500 persons, was acclaimed for its "spacious stage and fine dressing rooms for actors and singers." This was the center of social and cultural events in Redwood City until the advent of motion pictures. The opening performance of "Men and Women" was hailed by the San Francisco newspapers. High school and grammar school plays were also presented here. The theater was dark in 1921 when Redwood City Lodge No. 168 F. & A. M. bought the prop- erty for a meeting hall. The Masonic Lodge was instituted as San Mateo Lodge in Redwood City on August 23, 1863, and is the oldest Masonic Lodge on the Peninsula. The International Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F.) Building (1895) adjoins the Alhambra Theater to the south. When the Masonic Lodge took over the theater building, the two structures were unified with a common facade. The work of preparing the plans for remodeling the building and converting it into a modern temple was entrusted to J. R. Miller a well-known San Francisco architect. The contractor was Ben Zimmerman. The commercial building at 831-835 Main Street, now the former home of Redwood City's Masonic Temple, stands three stories tall, and forms half of a symmetrical unified facade with the I.O.O.F. Building next door. A layer of stucco covers the walls and the trim around windows and doors. The roof is flat, with a pent roof added at the top. The pent roof is sheathed in asphalt shingles. Page 36 7.B. - Page 47