Tivoli Theatre

Tivoli Theatre. . The Great States theatre chain erected the Tivoli Theatre in 1929. In the wake of the devastating 1928 fire at the Rialto Theatre, architects George and C.W. Rapp designed a fireproof building with about one thousand seats and a shallow stage. The theatre was located behind the lobby and retail storefronts. Above these areas were the Sylvandell Bowling Lanes, which were previously located in the basement of the Rialto as part of the Sylvandell Entertainment Palace. The Tivoli was a two-story buff colored brick building. Each of the brick piers on the façade was topped with diamond-patterned terra cotta caps. Red roofing tiles, decorative tiles above each window and the marquee completed the Spanish Eclectic look of the building. , , By the time the Tivoli was completed, "talkies," as opposed to the old-fashioned silent movies, had become popular. The Tivoli was the first theatre in the Aurora area to be equipped with the required technology to exhibit the new sound films clearly and naturally. The theatre operated until 1983 when it, along with the adjacent Arlington Hotel (built in 1892 by Mary O'Neill), was demolished for surface parking. , , [Caption for photo:] , This 1936 photo shows the Tivoli Theatre. Built in 1929, it was designed by the same Chicago architecture firm, Rapp and Rapp, that designed the Chicago Theatre and Aurora's Paramount Theatre. This smaller, "Modern Spanish" style theatre featured terra cotta caps and red roof tiles.