{"nrhp_refnum":"75000657","name":"Pickwick Theater Building","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"5 S. Prospect Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Park Ridge","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":42.01052228300006,"lon":-87.82910331999994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1975-02-24","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A steel-framed, two-story office, store and theater building with a tall tower, at 5 South Prospect Avenue in Park Ridge, Illinois, built in 1928-29 for William H. Malone.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it an important Art Deco cinema, significant locally and perhaps regionally. It has changed little, so its art and architecture can be appreciated directly. Alfonso Iannelli's interior murals and design work raise its value as an example of cinema design.","narrative":"Rising above a corner in Park Ridge, this steel-framed building combines stores, offices and a movie theater beneath a five-story tower topped with a rotating beacon. Built in 1928-29 for William H. Malone, it is faced in Indiana limestone on a polished Minnesota granite base, with a cast iron marquee decorated with stylized faces and Art Deco motifs. Architects Roscoe Harold Zook and William F. McCaughey designed it, and Iannelli Studios, led by sculptor Alfonso Iannelli, shaped the theater interior, including the fountain, the fire curtain mural and the ceiling mural called an Allegory of the Arts. The exterior and office areas reflect restrained Moderne styling, while the auditorium draws on busy Art Deco geometry with echoes of Mayan and Aztec patterns. Changes have been minor, mostly updated store and office spaces and a lowered lobby ceiling. Its survival with so little alteration made it significant as a cinema design.","period_of_significance":"1928","architect_builder":"Roscoe Harold Zook (overall design) and William F. McCaughey, architects; interior design in collaboration with Iannelli Studios (Alfonso Iannelli and Ruth Blackwell)","architectural_style":"Art Deco (theater interior) and Moderne (exterior and office-store interiors)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition, altered only in minor ways, and occupied; the theater was still operating as a movie house when nominated.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.398626-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/16/8922/28892216/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/75000657.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000657/5736b9b025-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/75000657/5736b9b025-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Kelly Martin","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ParkRidgePickwick.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Kelly Martin</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ParkRidgePickwick.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892216","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickwick_Theatre","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4362570"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/pickwick-theater-building-75000657/"}