Film Exchange Historic District - 701-705 W. Sheridan - Oklahoma City, OK - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

The Film Exchange district was actively occupied by many of the large motion picture companies as a distribution center for their film, to theater owners throughout Oklahoma, Texas and Arkansas in the 1920s through 1970s. The area then fell on hard times and languished for decades, falling into disrepair. But shortly after the beginning of the 21st Century, hope sprang forth, buildings were purchased by men of vision who saw what this area could become. Buildings were refurbished, streets and lighting improved, and the area came to life. The district was placed on the National Register in 2007 and today is occupied by offices, an art gallery, coffee shops, a restaurant, and is coming alive.

This building at 701-705 W. Sheridan is known as the Griffith Amusement Co. building. It once was owned by Paramount Pictures and a faded ghost sign still shows on the east wall. This is a two story building, which steps up one-and-a-half stories at the rear (north) for a movie theater. It was constructed in 1926 and was later connected to the building to its rear (11 N. Lee). The building is red brick with large industrial steel casement windows. The upper portion of the windows is a 6 x 2 panel. The lower portion has a fixed panel of 2 x 4 panes, flanked by opening windows also 2 x 4 panes.

The south-facing facade is asymmetrical, with an entrance off-centered to the east. The first floor windows have buff brick sills with dark gold brick surround and a soldier course at the head. On the second floor, the windows are paired on the ends with single windows in the center. The second floor windows have buff brick sills, with a vertical buff column of brick on each side, which acts as a springboard for an arch of buff bricks. The bricks laid inside this arch are on-end.

The building is currently occupied by a coffee shop and a 50-seat independence theater. This building is Item 4 on the District nomination.

Name of Historic District (as listed on the NRHP): Film Exchange Historic District Link to nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com page with the Historic District: [Web Link] NRHP Historic District Waymark (Optional): [Web Link] Address: 701-705 W. Sheridan Avenue Oklahoma City, OK 73102 How did you determine the building to be a contributing structure?: Narrative found on the internet (Link provided below) Optional link to narrative or database: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log User Rating   04/06/2021 The Snowdog visited it