Harry Crandall

Harry Crandall
From a 1920 magazine
Born	1879
Died	1937
Nationality	American
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Theater Companies

Harry M. Crandall (1879–1937) was an American businessman, who owned a theater empire.

At the height of his career, Crandall owned eighteen theaters in Washington D.C., Maryland, Virginia, and West Virginia. His theaters were well regarded in their communities, and many of them featured elegant and opulent designs which were formerly reserved for opera houses. His chain included first-rate movie houses such as the Apollo theatre in Martinsburg, West Virginia, the Metropolitan, the Tivoli Theatre in Washington, D.C., the Savoy, and the Knickerbocker in Washington, D.C.

Crandall began building his Washington movie theater empire when he opened the Casino at Fourth and East Capitol streets in 1907. However, Crandall's ownership of the Casino was short lived, as he sold it a short time after his operation began.

In 1910, Crandall again entered the movie business, by opening La Grand Open Air Park. He described this experience as fairly successful until its third year, when it was unusually rainy. Later, in 1913, Crandall decided to open the Joy Theater at 437-439 9th Street, which would become his springboard to the top of the Washington movie ladder. Crandall identified this period as when he started to take the motion picture business seriously. While operating the Joy Theater, he began to dream of a larger theater downtown and a large theater in each section of the city. To fulfill his vision, he initially purchased and refurbished existing neighborhood movie houses that were generally modest in size.

However, Crandall began commissioned entirely new buildings designed by Reginald W. Geare, such as the Knickerbocker (1917), the Metropolitan (1918), the York (1919), and the Lincoln (1922). The Metropolitan was located in Washington’s central business core on F Street, a short distance from the Joy Theater. The Knickerbocker, York, and Lincoln, on the other hand, were built outside the business district. Of these four theaters, only the York and Lincoln remain.