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Summary
National Register Web Summary –
Oriental Theatre
2216-2230 North Farwell Avenue, Milwaukee, Milwaukee County
Architects: Dick & Bauer
Dates of contributing buildings: 1927
The Oriental Theatre is an excellent example of a movie palace. Built in 1927, the Oriental was constructed at the height of popularity of this property type. That same year, sixteen new movie theaters – consisting of 18,200 seats – were being designed, built, or opened in Milwaukee. Locally, the period of movie palace construction was short-lived generally spanning from the mid-1920s and ending with the Great Depression. Compared with a typical movie theater of that period, the movie palace was larger and grander 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 specifically representative of this type of exotic movie palace.
Developed by Saxe Amusement E7nterprises, the Oriental Theatre was considered the crown jewel in their chain of theaters, which consisted of multiple venues within Milwaukee. Designed by the local architectural firm Dick & Bauer, their elaborate plans incorporated elements of East Indian, Moorish, Islamic, and Byzantine architecture to create a “temple of Oriental art” utilizing ornamental plaster and decorative painting. The theater’s decorative features include false beams in the lobbies painted to resemble hewn timbers; tile floors; draperies; seated Buddhist idols within decorative niches in the theater auditorium; ebony-colored lions lining the stairs to the balcony; and elaborate plaster work consisting of mythological creatures and over one hundred elephants. Large murals depicting exotic palaces and intricately detailed eight-foot light fixtures add to the ornate nature of the lobby.
The Oriental Theatre is further notable given its rarity within Milwaukee considering that the city has lost most of its historic movie palaces. The 1930s were peak years for the exhibition of motion pictures in Milwaukee with eighty-nine theaters in operation. However, mirroring national trends, the drop from this peak by the mid-twentieth century was striking. Featuring eighty theaters in 1950, the number of movie theaters operating in the city was reduced by half ten years later.
Property Details
Resources Within The Property
Designations
State & National Registers of Historic Places
The State Register and National Register recognize buildings, sites, districts, structures, and objects that are significant in national, state, or local history. The State Historic Preservation Office in conjunction with the National Park Service maintains the list for Wisconsin and makes the data available to the public for research and education.
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826 N. Eighth St.
99001606
Located in Sheboygan, Sheboygan County
