File:Orpheum Theatre, State Street, Madison, WI (52734363163).jpg

Built in 1926-1927, this Art Deco and Renaissance Revival-style former movie theater was designed by Rapp and Rapp. The theater was partially financed by local dentist William Beecroft, and originally featured facilities for vaudeville shows and movies, as well as a grand lobby and auditorium, with the long and narrow lobby wing fronting the more valuable and commercial State Street and a large auditorium to the rear along Johnson Street. The building was the first building in Wisconsin to feature air conditioning when it opened, and had a capacity of 2,400 in the auditorium, which was reduced to 1,700 when the “Stage Door” theater was added in the 1960s while the theater was under the ownership of the 20th Century Theaters chain, which also saw a major reduction in the size of the original stage, and conversion of part of the original orchestra seating area into a new stage. The theater survived a significant arson attempt in 2004, when an unknown party tried to set the building on fire, with two earlier, less successful attempts having also been carried out prior. The building has, since the early 2000s, served as a live performance and music venue.

The building features a limestone facade on State Street with a large and prominent red-painted blade sign displaying the name “New Orpheum” with white letters and gold trim featuring lightbulbs, and a steel structure cantilevering off the roof of the building over the parapet supporting the sign. Below the sign is a large marquee in the same colors, with the word “Orpheum” on the top of the marquee on the front, and lightbulbs trimming the edges and bottom of the marquee. Below the marquee is a set of aluminum doors with transoms recessed into a stone panel-clad facade with poster display cases on either end, flanking the doorway. Above the marquee is a decorative limestone facade with pilasters, reliefs featuring cartouches, five small windows, and a stepped parapet enclosing the lobby’s low-slope roof. The rear portion of the building, which houses the auditorium, is much larger and more utilitarian. It is clad in brick, with very few window openings, very little exterior detail, large exit doors, metal fire escapes on the side facades that allow emergency egress from the balcony, and a gambrel roof.

The interior of the theater is very well-preserved, featuring a two-story lobby with a balcony and prominently positioned statue of orpheus that looks down at the front entrance of the building, decorative balustrades, paneled walls, pilasters, festoons, decorative trim at the ceiling, decorative sconces and chandeliers, a double staircase flanking the entrance to the first floor hallway outside the auditorium, and a preserved original terrazzo floor. The auditorium features a vaulted ceiling with intricate decorative plasterwork and paneling, crystal chandeliers, a large balcony, an orchestra seating area that has been reduced in size to create a larger, flat space at the front of the space that can function as a performance space or seating area, the original proscenium arch, which sits over a stage that has been reduced in depth, box seats under arched openings, decorative plaster railings on the exterior of the balconies, decorative plaster medallions on the ceiling, a domed ceiling under the stage, pilasters, and modernized seating and modern safety railings.