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The Porter County Memorial Hall, also known as Memorial Opera House, is an historic Grand Army of the Republic memorial hall located in Valparaiso, Indiana. It was the meeting place of Chaplain Brown GAR Post No. 106, one of 592 GAR posts in Indiana.〔(Library of Congress list of GAR posts in Indiana )〕 Designed in 1892 by a local architect, Charles F. Lembke.,〔Neeley, George E.; City of Valparaiso, A Pictorial History; G. Bradley Publishing, Inc.; St. Louis, Missouri; 1989; pg 46.〕 using Romanesque styling, it was built in 1892-3 to seat 100 people. It was also used as the local opera house. Local legend says that Wm Jennings Bryan spoke at the hall during the 1896 presidential campaign. Others who have been to the hall include Theodore Roosevelt, John Phillips Sousa, Marx Brothers.〔Porter County Interim Report, Indiana Historic Sites and Structures Inventory; Historic Landmarks Foundation of Indiana; July 1991; pg 46〕 Decline began with the advent of the movies, for which it was converted. By the time of World War II it was an abandoned building. Beginning in 1955, the Community Theatre Guild leased the property and began maintaining it once again for theater productions.〔pg 47.〕 The City restored the hall in the 1990s and leased it to the Memorial Opera House Company, where theater productions continue. The Memorial Opera House is located at 104 Indiana Avenue just east of the historic Porter County Jail and Sheriff's House. At the time of construction, Indiana Avenue was called Mechanics Street.〔Mullins, Lanette; Images of America; Valparaiso – Looking Back, Moving Forward; Arcadia Publishing; Chicago, Illinois; 2002; pg 16〕 The Opera House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1984. It was restored in 1998.Today, the Memorial Theatre Company produces six theatrical performances each year and host community concerts and other events.〔pg 74-5〕 ==Exterior== The 1893 Memorial Opera House is "eclectic" in its styling, with the details, symmetry, and size associated with the Queen Anne style. Additional influences are seen in the broad entrance arches and side windows. This may reflect the influence of Louis Sullivan or H. H. Richardson, both active in nearby Chicago during this time.〔Porter County Memorial Hall; United States Department off the Interior, National Park Service; National Register of Historic Places Inventory—Nomination Form; Washington D.C., 1984〕 The main facade features a projecting, two-story central bay, with a jerkin-head gable. The ground floor of the bay is occupied by a broad, low-springing arch, formed by seven header courses of brick with rock-face limestone springers. The main entrance consists of two pairs of multi-light doors.〔 Eight radiating lights fill the tympanum. Above the entrance is a recessed panel on a stone sill with the inscription, "1883, Memorial Hall, A monument to the Soldiers and Sailors of 1861-5." Above the dedication stone is a limestone sill and a fanlight with clear and stained glass set in a seven-course brick arch. A coved verge board outlines the edge of the jerkin-head gable, and is decorated by rosettes.〔 On both sides of the central bay there are a single bay. At ground level, the windows are segmentally arched double-hung, with stone sills level with the springers of the central arch. Above, the double-hung windows have stone sills, and a stone belt course, serving as the lintels. A parapet with rounded "shoulders," on a stone cornice of corbelled brick.〔 Two round towers frame the main facade. Rectangular windows have a stringcourse forming the sills, in line-with the central arch springers. A rock-faced belt course forming the lintels. Decorative brick detailing above the windows forms a foundation for a floriated frieze, with a modillioned cornice.〔 Two-story structure has a pitched roof, interrupted by hipped roofs over projecting bays. Round-arched windows on each side, replicate the main façade. Shallow buttresses, interrupt the wall surface〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Porter County Memorial Opera Hall」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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