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Milwaukee, Milwaukee County, Wisconsin - The Wisconsin Historical Society announces the listing of the Oriental Theatre in the National Register of Historic Places on February 2, 2023. The Oriental Theatre is located at 2216-2230 North Farwell Avenue Milwaukee.

The Oriental Theatre is an excellent example of a “movie palace” from 1927. A movie palace was larger and grander than a typical movie theater of the period, featuring expansive lobbies, balconies, a stage with orchestra pit, and restrooms with lounges. Most notably, movie palaces had ornate and lavishly detailed interiors designed to make patrons feel as though they were in a unique setting such as an exotic and distant land. The Oriental Theatre is representative of this type of exotic movie palace.

Designed by the local architectural firm Dick & Bauer, the Oriental Theatre incorporated elements of East Indian, Moorish, Islamic, and Byzantine architecture to create a “temple of Oriental art” utilizing ornamental plaster and decorative painting.

The Oriental Theatre is now a rarity within Milwaukee, which has lost most of its historic movie palaces. When it was built, sixteen new movie theaters – with a capacity of 18,200 seats – were being designed, built or opened in Milwaukee. The 1930s were peak years for the exhibition of motion pictures with 89 theaters in operation. Mirroring national trends, that number fell to 80 in 1950 and was further reduced by half 10 years later.

Additional information for the Oriental Theatre is available at:

https://www.wisconsinhistory.org/Records/Property/HI106659

 To learn more about the State and National Register programs in Wisconsin, visit: https://wisconsinhistory.org/hp/register/

About the Wisconsin Historical Society

The Wisconsin Historical Society, founded in 1846, ranks as one of the largest, most active and most diversified state historical societies in the nation. As both a state agency and a private membership organization, its mission is to help people connect to the past by collecting, preserving and sharing stories. The Wisconsin Historical Society serves millions of people every year through a wide range of sites, programs and services. For more information, visit wisconsinhistory.org.