{"nrhp_refnum":"75000472","name":"Geary Theatre","other_names":["Columbia Theatre"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"415 Geary St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Francisco","county":"San Francisco","state":"CA","lat":37.786731805000045,"lon":-122.41019122099999,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-05-27","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick theatre at 415 Geary Street in San Francisco, built 1908-1910 and originally called the Columbia Theatre. It was designed by the San Francisco firm Bliss and Faville.","why_significant":"Built during reconstruction after the 1906 earthquake, it is the oldest existing downtown theatre in San Francisco and the only one of the eight theatres built in that period still in continuous year-round professional use. It has hosted many legendary performances and has unusually good natural acoustics. Its interior and exterior remain faithful to early 20th-century theatre design.","narrative":"Opened on January 10, 1910, as the Columbia Theatre, this brick playhouse at 415 Geary Street was designed by the San Francisco firm Bliss and Faville. It was one of eight downtown theatres built after the 1906 earthquake and fire destroyed the city's earlier houses. Today it is the oldest surviving downtown theatre in San Francisco and the only one of those eight to operate continuously as a professional theatre. The exterior blends neo-classical and baroque elements, with comedy and tragedy masks above the entrances and a wrought iron marquee. Inside are three seating levels, a carved proscenium, and wall carvings of cherubs and theatrical symbols. The building takes the Geary name in 1928 and has hosted performers such as Sarah Bernhardt, Ethel Barrymore and Paul Robeson. Its acoustics allow unamplified speech to carry well, and it has needed no interior changes to improve them. Since 1967 it has housed the American Conservatory Theatre.","period_of_significance":"1906-1910 (post-earthquake reconstruction)","architect_builder":"Bliss and Faville","architectural_style":"Beaux-Arts Classical","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as occupied, in good condition, and in use as a theatre; it has been home to the American Conservatory Theatre since 1967.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.952915-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/75000472.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000472/d0d78a39bd-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000472/d0d78a39bd-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geary_Theatre_(San_Francisco).JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Sanfranman59</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Geary_Theatre_(San_Francisco).JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861124","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q118583159"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-francisco/geary-theatre-75000472/"}