{"nrhp_refnum":"01000043","name":"Rialto Theatre","other_names":["Miller and Washington Block"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Broadway","address_restricted":false,"city":"Monticello","county":"Sullivan County","state":"NY","lat":41.65555560200005,"lon":-74.68769885199998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2001-02-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick-fronted commercial block with a 136-foot rear auditorium, built in 1921 on the north side of Broadway in Monticello, Sullivan County, New York. It was designed by Emil Motel as the Rialto Theatre within the Miller and Washington Block.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the Rialto is a distinctive, largely intact twentieth-century theater in Sullivan County and part of the recreation and entertainment culture of the western Catskills resort era. It was the most important of Monticello's three early theaters and a catalyst for downtown rebuilding after the 1909 fire. It retains its exterior design, functional divisions and some interior decoration, including wall murals.","narrative":"Built in 1921 on Broadway in Monticello, the Rialto Theatre formed part of the Miller and Washington Block, a commercial venture by two local businessmen. The block combined three ground-floor stores, a theater with a 136-foot auditorium, and a second-floor restaurant that seated more than four hundred. Local architect Emil Motel is credited with the design, which uses brick of varying hues for banding, a corbeled cornice and a stepped parapet. The theater rose soon after a 1909 fire destroyed much of the village center, and it helped spur downtown rebuilding. Movies drew overflow crowds, and the theater became a focus of social life; its success contributed to the closing of the larger Lyceum in 1922. Although the foyer has been enclosed as a store and a dropped ceiling hides the original plaster, the stage, spatial layout, neon sign and painted wall murals survive. A non-profit arts group was acquiring the building for restoration and reuse.","period_of_significance":"1921","architect_builder":"Emil Motel, architect","architectural_style":"Late 19th and early 20th century revivals","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Vacant; the auditorium has not been used as a theater for eighteen years and was most recently a mattress warehouse. Purchase by a non-profit arts group and restoration for arts use were being planned.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:50.454988-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/01000043.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000043/d8c246c28d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/01000043/d8c246c28d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from Upstate New York","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rialto_Theater_Monticello_NY_May_09.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from Upstate New York</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rialto_Theater_Monticello_NY_May_09.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100004915","name":"Broadway Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/broadway-historic-district-100004915/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75322401","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rialto_Theater_(Monticello,_New_York)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7322147"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/sullivan-county/rialto-theatre-01000043/"}