Vaudeville built the Orpheum Theatre: this 1,364-seat house in downtown Phoenix began life as part of the nationwide Orpheum Circuit. Imagine the building that rose here after construction began in 1927 and was completed in 1929 at a cost of $750,000. The exterior and interior were conceived by Lescher & Mahoney, with Hugh Gilbert associated, and the McGinty Construction Company built it for owner‑operators J.E. Rickards and Harry Nace.
It was fashioned in a Spanish Revival, Spanish Baroque style, with intricate murals and moldings meant to give patrons the impression they were enjoying the shows "al fresco. In the 1940s the Orpheum joined the Paramount Pictures chain and was renamed "The Paramount. In the 1960s Nederlander bought it to add to the Broadway circuit, and through that decade until its restoration it bore the name "Palace West.
In the mid‑1970s and early 1980s the Corona family leased it for a wide variety of Hispanic events and films — a period when, at one point, those murals and moldings were painted black. Notice the facade's ornate details, murals and moldings meant to feel al fresco.