Rialto Theatre - Beeville, TX
Posted by: 
WalksfarTX
N 28° 24.124 W 097° 44.956
14R E 622521 N 3142378
Built in 1922 by H.W. Hall Sr. for Hall Brothers Industries, the Rialto was the flagship of their 22-theater chain in South Texas.
Waymark Code: WMY0PC
Location: Texas, United States
Date Posted: 03/28/2018
Views: 1
Texas Historic Site Atlas
Architect W. C. Stephenson designed a fine example of a neoclassical theater, but a fire in 1935 gutted the Rialto. It was remodeled in an elaborately embellished and harmonious Art Deco style on the interior and an exuberant Art Moderne style on the primary exterior facade. Detailing of the interior and front facade, displaying bold colors and geometric patterns, gives the building individual distinction. Not only a Beeville landmark, the Rialto is an architecturally significant example of early 20th-century theatrical design.
Located on the east side of Washington Street, the main street of Beeville, the Rialto Theater faces west. Situated in the downtown business district, one block north of the courthouse and in a typical one and two-story commercial block, the theater shares its north and south walls with adjacent building.
The red brick building was constructed as a Classical Revival style theater in 1922, but was severely damaged on December 3, 1935, by a fire started in the basement by a workman's torch. The fire blazed out of control for two hours, and the damage forced the theater to close for extensive renovations.
The exterior of the theater is an excellent example of Art Moderne design, featuring the streamlined elements popular in the 1930s. The outstanding feature is a bold rectangular marquee jutting out over the sidewalk. The front panel accommodates moveable lettering to advertise movies. The sides are paneled with red porcelain enamel. Neon light tubes form a scroll border around the top and bottom of all three sides; neon slashes decorate the rounded corners, and a neon H (for Hall) in a black enameled inverted triangle surrounded by a speeding cloud motif (in neon tubing) is on either side. In front, on a red and yellow enameled dais, RIALTO is spelled out in freestanding stylized block letters, outlined in neon.
On either side of the center marquee is a shorter, set-back section of marquee. These sections are covered with yellow porcelain enamel panels held in silver-colored metal frames and decorated with linear neon tubing. The soffit of the marquee and the entry is white porcelain enamel, divided by horizontal and diagonal colored bands and neon tubing, designed to attract and draw the public in