Rialto Theatre (Arizona)
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The Rialto's marquee, facing Congress Street
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| Address | 318 East Congress Street Tucson, Arizona United States |
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| Owner | City of Tucson |
| Operator | Independent (1922-1929); (1971-1984); (1995-2004), Paramount Nace Theatres (1929-1949), AP Theatres (1949-1963), The Rialto Theatre Foundation (2004-present) |
| Capacity | 1,400 |
| Opened | 1922 |
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Rialto Theatre
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| Coordinates | 32°13′19″N 110°57′59.4″W / 32.22194°N 110.966500°WCoordinates: 32°13′19″N 110°57′59.4″W / 32.22194°N 110.966500°W |
| Architect | Alexander Curlett; William Curlett & Son |
| Architectural style | Art Nouveau |
| MPS | Downtown Tucson, Arizona MPS |
| NRHP Reference # | 03000909 |
| Added to NRHP | September 12, 2003 |
The Rialto Theatre is a performance theater and concert venue located on Congress Street in downtown Tucson, Pima County, southern Arizona. The cinema−theater and surrounding Rialto Building commercial block were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.
First conceived of in the early-to-mid-1910s, The Rialto Theatre was built by William Curlett & Son, jointly with the neighboring Hotel Congress across the street. Upon its opening in 1922, The Rialto Theatre was one of Tucson's first movie theaters, playing primarily silent films per the time period. In addition, the theater was host to Vaudeville shows, another popular form of entertainment at the time. The first full-length film to play on the Rialto’s screen was 'The Toll Gate'.
In 1929, the theater was bought out by Paramount-Publix, a theater-owning consortium that controlled a significant number of American movie theaters. By the 1930s, the Rialto was hosting talking pictures in addition to weekly Vaudeville shows and plays. During the Paramount-Publix period of ownership, the cinema was significantly revamped. This included buying new seating, new interior decorating, and the installation of evaporative cooling, a fixture which lasted in the theater until the early 21st century.
Around 1947) the theater's name was changed to The Paramount, reflecting its corporate ownership. Though the studio-movie theater monopoly was broken up by the Paramount Decree of the Supreme Court in 1948, it took many more years for Paramount Pictures to comply. Hence, the ownership would remain the same for at least another decade.
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