{"nrhp_refnum":"73000395","name":"Paramount Theatre","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2025 Broadway","address_restricted":false,"city":"Oakland","county":"Alameda County","state":"CA","lat":37.809795364500076,"lon":-122.26867948075056,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-08-14","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1977-05-05","areas_of_significance":["Art","Entertainment/Recreation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A large Art Deco (Moderne) movie palace at 2025 Broadway in downtown Oakland, California, which opened on December 16, 1931, designed by the San Francisco firm Miller & Pflueger.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the theatre is significant for the quality of its design and its place in Bay Area architectural history, rather than for its size or date. It is the largest theatre ever built in Oakland and the last Publix-started house, and it represents the largest and most ambitious theatre design by Timothy L. Pflueger. Its unified style draws on natural forms rather than abstract geometry.","narrative":"Located at 2025 Broadway in downtown Oakland, the Paramount Theatre is a movie palace that opened on December 16, 1931. Publix Theatres, the exhibition arm of Paramount Pictures, began construction, but financial trouble forced a sale to Fox-West Coast Theatres, which finished and ran it until it closed in September 1970. Instead of the usual Rapp & Rapp of Chicago, Publix chose the San Francisco firm Miller & Pflueger, led by Timothy L. Pflueger. The design is in a Moderne or Art Deco manner, drawing on natural forms such as foliage and figures, with a few Mayan-inspired details. The Broadway facade has a terra-cotta panel and a tall vertical sign, and the interior has a grand lobby, gold-finished auditorium and colored lighting. It is the largest theatre ever built in Oakland. The Oakland Symphony Orchestra Association bought it in 1972 and began a restoration aimed at recreating its 1931 appearance.","period_of_significance":"20th Century (opening date December 16, 1931)","architect_builder":"Miller & Pflueger (Timothy L. Pflueger); sculptural work by Robert B. Howard and Ralph Stackpole","architectural_style":"Moderne / Art Deco","criteria":[],"status_note":"Purchased in October 1972 by the Oakland Symphony Orchestra Association; a $1 million restoration began December 27, 1972, for reopening as a concert facility in September 1973. Condition listed as good.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:31.407292-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/73000395.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000395/7d5b18b71f-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000395/7d5b18b71f-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY 2.0","author":"sierra jane from oakland, ca","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paramount.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">sierra jane from oakland, ca</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Paramount.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858314","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_Theatre_(Oakland,_California)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q14683611"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/alameda-county/paramount-theatre-73000395/"}