One of the busiest blocks in the neighborhood used to look wildly different in the 1880s: a wagon shop, Fred Gansberg’s coal yard, a cobbler, a coal & wood yard, a hay & feed store, and a saloon. Can you guess which block? 

The Granada Theater, part of the Murphy Building today, was constructed in 1928. Designed by architect Donald Graham, the same architect who designed the Odd Fellows Lodge, now Southeast Community Services, just a few years prior. Graham was skilled at designing theaters, including the Rivoli in Indianapolis, the Tivoli in Richmond, and several in Chicago. The 1,100-seat theater boasts Spanish Baroque inspired terracotta ornamentation on the exterior. The Granada Theater was one of many theaters in the Fountain Square neighborhood, which had more theaters than any other city neighborhood from 1910 to 1950. Interestingly, the Granada was the first theater in Indianapolis to play a foreign sound movie – the film Terra Madre in 1932. When the Granada Theater closed in 1951, the building was updated and expanded for the G.C. Murphy Co. department store. 

Adjacent to the Granada Theater is the Schreiber Block, built by William Schreiber in 1895. The G.C. Murphy Co. occupied the Schreiber Block starting in 1929. When G.C. Murphy absorbed the Granada Theater, the main theater floor was filled in, the concrete balcony was removed, and the old lobby was removed for show windows. The G.C. Murphy Co. store closed in 1997. Soon after, the space would become the Murphy Building Arts Center, a community art center with artist studios and galleries. Today, there are restaurants, music venues, offices, and artist studios in the building. 

The large pink blocks mark the Murphy Building before the 1951 expansion.
Credit: 1941 Baist Map, MapIndy, City of Indianapolis.

Interior of the Granada Theater.
Credit: “Granada Opens Today,” Indianapolis Star, April 8, 1928, pg. 71.

The Granada Theater marquee with a streetcar out front.
Credit: “Shelby Street Trolley,” Indianapolis Transit Companies Papers, Indiana Historical Society, 1949.

The block prior to the construction of the Murphy Building.
Credit: “Virginia Avenue Looking Northwest from Shelby Street, Indianapolis, Indiana, Circa 1888,” Joan Hostetler Collection, Indiana Album, 1887-1889,