{"nrhp_refnum":"77001074","name":"Burt's Theater","other_names":["Country Palace"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"719--723 Jefferson St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Toledo","county":"Lucas County","state":"OH","lat":41.651665638000054,"lon":-83.53964274499998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1977-11-01","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick theater building at 719-723 Jefferson Avenue at the corner of Ontario Street in downtown Toledo, Lucas County, Ohio, built in 1897-98 to designs by architect George S. Mills.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that its Venetian Gothic design is unique in Ohio and Toledo, with a facade adapted from the Ca d'Oro in Venice. It is also one of only two remaining 1800s-era theater buildings in Toledo. It was likely the last building Mills personally drafted.","narrative":"Burt's Theater is a brick building at the corner of Jefferson and Ontario Streets in downtown Toledo, built in 1897-98 for about $75,000. Architect George S. Mills adapted its three-bay Jefferson facade from the Ca d'Oro, a Gothic palace in Venice. The upper two floors are yellow brick with terra cotta ornament, including a large recessed central window with lancet arches, tracery and Corinthian-capped columns. At the Ontario Street corner, turned terra cotta columns and a winged griffin that serves as a downspout mouth add to the detail. Frank Burt opened the theater on August 25, 1898, for vaudeville and melodrama, with seating for more than 1,500 people. It stopped operating as a playhouse in 1913 and later housed a produce company, an auto showroom, the Toledo Automobile Club and several nightclubs. Its Venetian Gothic design is unique in Ohio, and it is one of two surviving nineteenth-century theater buildings in Toledo.","period_of_significance":"1897-98","architect_builder":"George S. Mills (architect)","architectural_style":"Venetian Gothic","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed in good condition. The rear portion was converted to a museum of Toledo memorabilia, and the owner planned to convert the whole building into a Toledo museum.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:53:09.752089-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_OH/77001074.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77001074/e33f3d288a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/77001074/e33f3d288a-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":"Nyttend","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Burt%27s_Theater,_Toledo.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Nyttend</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Burt%27s_Theater,_Toledo.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100007510","name":"Toledo Central Business Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/ohio/toledo-central-business-historic-district-100007510/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/71990023","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q138542498"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/ohio/lucas-county/burts-theater-77001074/"}