{"nrhp_refnum":"91000085","name":"New Orpheum Theatre","other_names":["RKO Orpheum Theatre","Orpheum Theatre"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"346--352 N. Neil St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Champaign","county":"Champaign County","state":"IL","lat":40.119486936000044,"lon":-88.24260332499995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-02-28","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story brick vaudeville and movie theatre with three attached storefronts at 346-352 N. Neil Street in downtown Champaign, Illinois, built in 1914 and designed by Rapp and Rapp.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is an early example of the French-inspired interiors that became the signature of Rapp and Rapp's later movie palaces. It also represents the local pattern of vaudeville and motion picture entertainment, which ran almost continuously from 1914 into the 1980s.","narrative":"Opened on October 19, 1914, this downtown Champaign theatre combines an auditorium with three storefronts along N. Neil Street. The exterior is restrained Classical Revival work in brick with limestone trim and wooden Ionic columns between the upper windows. Inside, the auditorium is far more elaborate, with giant Corinthian columns, 17 loge boxes, a plaster dome and French Renaissance and Baroque ornament. Chicago architects Rapp and Rapp designed it, and it shows an early version of the French-inspired interiors they later used in their large movie palaces of the 1920s. The same plan served as the model for the Al Ringling Theatre in Baraboo, Wisconsin. The theatre presented vaudeville and later films, with only brief interruptions, until 1986. Rooms above the storefronts housed early Black vaudevillians. Aluminum sheathing added around 1967 damaged some exterior details but was removed in 1990, and the auditorium remains largely unaltered.","period_of_significance":"1914-1940","architect_builder":"Rapp and Rapp, Architects","architectural_style":"Classical Revival; French Renaissance","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Listed as vacant/not in use at the time of nomination; the theatre operated as a movie house until spring 1986, and aluminum sheathing added around 1967 was removed in July 1990.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.374106-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/8918/28891826/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/91000085.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91000085/b2c7506ea4-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/91000085/b2c7506ea4-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sallyajackson","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Orpheum_3.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Sallyajackson</a>, <a href=\"https://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:Orpheum_3.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891826","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheum_Theatre_(Champaign,_Illinois)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q7103964"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/champaign-county/new-orpheum-theatre-91000085/"}