| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, State Historic Preservation Office.
1987 - Designed by local architect H.C. Alford and Peoria theater designer F.C. Klein. Exterior is Moorish in its inspiration. The original interior decor was intended to evoke the sense of a Spanish hacienda courtyard complete with twinkling stars. It was the first theater in Madison built exclusively to show the new "talkies" - motion pictures with sound - and was the only theater built outside of the downtown area until the 1960s.
In the days when cinemas were known as movie palaces, the East Side Business Men's Association commissioned the Eastwood Theater in a Spanish-influenced Neo-Baroque style. The tan brick building became a neighborhood venue for the latest film innovation: talkies. Lavishly ornamented movie palaces like the Eastwood allowed audiences to escape into an exotic fantasyland and opened their minds to the imaginative world of cinema. The Eastwood’s ornate illuminated tower, rising 60 feet over the sidewalk, dominates the streetscape, advertising the theater. Above the marquee, a tall, narrow window flanked by twisted columns and crowned by a curvilinear lintel, leads the eye upward to a large, bellcast dome. Leaf and floral motifs, cartouches draped by garlands, scroll brackets, and classical urns, all executed in cast stone, further adorn the tower. A cast-stone balustrade extends from both sides of the tower to form the roofline of three intact storefronts for shops, which increased the theater’s income. Below the railing, the false pent roof clad with clay tiles enhances the building's Spanish appearance.
Inside, the auditorium continues the Spanish theme, suggesting a patio under a starry Mediterranean sky. An “atmospheric machine” once projected luminous puffs of clouds across the glittery, midnight-blue ceiling, making visitors feel that they were watching movies outdoors.
Klein designed the acoustics especially for talkies, using the Vitaphone system, which synchronized sound with film, but the theater also accommodated vaudeville acts, as was common in many theaters until the 1950s. Now known as the Barrymore, the old movie palace continues to offer films and musical performers. |
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