C. W. & George L. Rapp, commonly known as Rapp & Rapp, was an American architectural firm famed for the design of movie palaces and other theatres. Active from 1906 to 1965 and based in Chicago, the office designed over 400 theatres, including the Chicago Theatre (1921), Bismarck Hotel and Theatre (1926) and Oriental Theater (1926) in Chicago, the Five Flags Center (1910) in Dubuque, Iowa and the Paramount Theatres in New York City (1926) and Aurora, Illinois (1931). The named partners were brothers C. Ward Rapp (1860–1926) and George L. Rapp (1878–1941), sons of a builder and natives of Carbondale, Illinois. Their Chicago practice is not to be confused with the Trinidad, Colorado practice of their brothers Isaac H. Rapp (1854–1933) and William M. Rapp (1863–1920) or the notable Cincinnati architects George W. Rapp and Walter L. Rapp, to whom they were not related. Biographies and history Cornelius Ward Rapp was born December 26, 1860. In the 1880s he moved to Chicago, where he worked for architect Cyrus P. Thomas. In 1889, the two formed the partnership of Thomas & Rapp. This was dissolved in 1895, when both opened independent offices. Rapp's major projects over the next eleven years included Altgeld Hall (1895–96) and Wheeler Hall (1903–04) at what is now Southern Illinois University Carbondale and the Coles County Courthouse (1898–99) in Charleston. His father was superintendent of construction for both Carbondale buildings. Rapp was an independent practitioner until 1906, when he formed a partnership with his younger brother, George L. Rapp. George Leslie Rapp was born February 16, 1878. He was educated in the School of Architecture of the University of Illinois, graduating in 1899. He then followed his brother to Chicago, where he joined the office of architect Edmund R. Krause. Of the projects completed by Krause during Rapp's employment, the best known was the Majestic Theatre, now the CIBC Theatre. After seven years with Krause he joined his brother to form the firm of C. W. & George L. Rapp, commonly known as Rapp & Rapp. Following early success with the Five Flags Center in Dubuque, Iowa, the new firm quickly specialized in theatres. In 1917 they began working with the Balaban & Katz chain of movie theatres, a relationship leading to the construction of many early movie palaces. In 1926 Paramount Pictures bought a controlling interest in Balaban & Katz, after which the Rapp office