{"nrhp_refnum":"76001486","name":"Palace Theater","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"272 W. Center St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Marion","county":"Marion County","state":"OH","lat":40.58879328000006,"lon":-83.13787303399994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-03-26","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Art","Performing Arts"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"The Palace Theater is an irregularly massed brick movie theater at 272 West Center Street in Marion, Ohio, opened August 30, 1928 and designed by architect John Eberson.","why_significant":"The nomination presents it as one of the last movie houses built during the golden age of silent cinema. It is an example of the work of John Eberson, a leading theater designer of the 1920s known for the \"atmospheric\" theater. Its Spanish patio interior, with a starlit domed ceiling, is described as the defining achievement.","narrative":"Marion's Palace Theater, at 272 West Center Street, opened on August 30, 1928, as a movie house with about 1,500 seats. Its exterior is a fairly plain, irregularly massed brick building with a marquee, storefronts, round-arched second-story windows, and a decorated gable-like sign front. The interior is far more elaborate. Architect John Eberson designed it as a Spanish patio, with garden walls, classical statues in niches, and a domed ceiling meant to look like a starry sky with drifting clouds. Eberson was among the foremost theater designers of the 1920s and is credited with developing the atmospheric theater. The Palace cost roughly half a million dollars, was built for sound films but opened with silent pictures, and featured a Page organ and early air conditioning. In the 1930s and 1940s it hosted well-known entertainers and big bands. The nomination records that the building was in good condition, with restoration under way by local supporters.","period_of_significance":"1928","architect_builder":"John Eberson","architectural_style":"Spanish Rococco interior (atmospheric theater design)","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as in good condition, with restoration work in progress; the owner is a cultural arts association and a group called the Palace Guard hopes to restore it.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:10.083663-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/76001486.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001486/02c9991fdf-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76001486/02c9991fdf-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palace_Theater,_Marion.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palace_Theater,_Marion.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71990177","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Palace_Theatre_(Marion,_Ohio)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q19817700"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/marion-county/palace-theater-76001486/"}