{"nrhp_refnum":"05001491","name":"Seville Theatre","other_names":["Bryn Mawr Theatre"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"822-826 W. Lancaster Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Lower Merion Township","county":"Montgomery County","state":"PA","lat":40.02351059700004,"lon":-75.31862868899998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-12-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick and concrete movie theater with a Beaux-Arts style front on Lancaster Avenue in the Village of Bryn Mawr, Lower Merion Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, built in 1926. It has a retail arcade at the front and an auditorium that was later divided into two theaters.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant for its design as a main-street movie house typical of the 1920s and for the work of architect William H. Lee, a prolific theater designer in the region. It is described as one of the few remaining theaters by Lee and as a strong example of a once common building type. Its facade and retail arcade are described as largely original.","narrative":"Built in 1926 on Lancaster Avenue in the Village of Bryn Mawr, the Seville Theatre combines a symmetrical Beaux-Arts facade of red brick, cast stone and bronze storefronts with a two-story retail arcade behind it. The building is a steel-framed structure clad in brick and precast concrete, and it originally held an auditorium of about 1,000 seats with an organ pit for silent films. The theater opened on September 29, 1926, on a site that had previously held a general store and boarding houses. Its architect, William H. Lee, designed many theaters across Pennsylvania, and the nomination treats this building as one of the few surviving examples of his work and of the main-street movie house type. The interior, with its Spanish-Mediterranean ornament, reflects the exotic escapism that theater designers of the period sought to create. The auditorium was divided into two theaters in 1978, and the marquee has been replaced twice, though the facade and arcade remain largely original.","period_of_significance":"1926-1955","architect_builder":"Lee, William H (Architect)","architectural_style":"Beaux Arts","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Operates as a movie theater; the auditorium was divided into two theaters after 1977, and the front arcade includes vacant retail and unoccupied upper-floor space.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-haiku-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.1-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 17:10:27.300654-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_PA/05001491.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001491/15922ae6e2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05001491/15922ae6e2-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Smallbones","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seville_Theater_exterior.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Smallbones</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seville_Theater_exterior.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71996327","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seville_Theatre_(Lower_Merion_Township,_Pennsylvania)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7458075"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/pennsylvania/montgomery-county/seville-theatre-05001491/"}