Madison Theatre
113 Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard,
Madison,
WI
53703
113 Martin Luther King Jr Boulevard,
Madison,
WI
53703
1 person
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Standard Theaters Management Corp.
Architects: Cornelius Ward Rapp, George W. Leslie Rapp
Firms: Rapp & Rapp
Styles: French Renaissance
Previous Names: Orpheum Theatre, Garrick Theatre
Nearby Theaters
Madison had an earlier Orpheum Theatre which was renamed the Garrick Theatre when the current Orpheum Theatre was finished in 1927. The building was built about 1911 as part of the national Orpheum vaudeville and theatre circuit. It was apparently remodeled into a movie theatre in 1936 and a renamed the Madison Theatre.
It is highly likely that it was capable of showing movies before that time but more research needs to be done on this lost theatre. Good pictures of the building appear in a book entitled Double Take by Zane Williams. The theatre was demolished in 1957. The building is attributed to Rapp and Rapp because of its similarities to Dubuque’s Majestic Theatre from 1910 and to other early Rapp and Rapp designs.
Contributed by
Paul Wolter
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
I just remembered that the theatre was definitely a Rapp and Rapp because it is cited in a newspaper article from the Champaign Daily Gazette dated March 17, 1914 announcing the construction of the new Orpheum theatre in Champaign. The article states, “The plans for the new theatre were prepared by C.W. and George L. Rapp, architects of Chicago. The Rapps who make a specialty of theatre designing. They are the architects of the beautiful Majestic theatre in Chicago and have planned several theatres for the Finn & Heiman company, include (sic) the Orpheum theatre in Madison, Wisconsin…”
march 27th, 1923 ad is at http://en.calameo.com/books/000247928bbd79f7d3516
There was an “New Madison” theatre that opened on November 18th, 1936
The 1936 ad is at http://en.calameo.com/books/0002479282a5dabfbf768
The correct address, for google map placement should be
113 Martin Luther King Jr Blvd, Madison WI 53703
The Orpheum was listed at 115 Monoa [sic] Avenue in the 1914-1915 American Motion Picture Directory. It’s likely that it presented movies as well as vaudeville from early in its history. Orpheum circuit houses in smaller cities typically operated as combination houses by the mid-1910s, as it was more profitable than two-a-day vaudeville shows in such places.