The Orpheum Theater opened in Champaign, Illinois in 1914 on the site of a vaudeville theater built in 1904. Designed by the Architectural firm Rapp & Rapp, the Orpheum (also known as The New Orpheum) was built to accommodate both live vaudeville performances and the projection of film. After a series of renovations and changes of ownership, the Orpheum screened its final film in 1986. Preserved from demolition in 1991, the Orpheum is now home to a children's museum, the Orpheum Children's Science Museum, and is undergoing restoration. Design and construction One of the earliest examples of movie theater architecture, the Orpheum is an early design by the prolific architectural firm Rapp and Rapp, a firm that would later design many famous American "Movie Palaces" in the first decades of the twentieth century. George Leslie Rapp, an 1899 alumnus of the University of Illinois School of Architecture, with his brother Corneilus, founded the firm of Rapp & Rapp. They designed over 400 theaters including the Majestic Theater in Dubuque, Iowa (1910), the Chicago Theatre (1921), Bismark Hotel and Theatre (1926), Mighigan Theatre, Detroit (1926), Oriental Theater, Chicago (1926), and the Paramount Theater in New York City (1926) and Aurora (1931). Rapp and Rapp designed the Orpheum as a scale model of the opera house at Versailles. The following year, they designed the Al. Ringling Theatre in Baraboo, Wisconsin, which was also a model of the Versailles opera house. The Ringlings, however, spent considerably more money for decorations. The Orpheum interior style is French Renaissance and Baroque and the exterior is Classical Revival. There were 754 seats and 18 loge boxes. The owners were Joseph M. Finn and Marcus Heiman of F&H Amusement Company. General contractor was Wile Brothers of Chicago, specialists in theater construction. The contract price was between $65,000 and $70,000. Work began in late May 1914. Mandel Brothers of Chicago had the contract for the draperies and other interior decorations. The scenery was done by Sosman & Landis of Chicago, who were considered the best scenery painters in the middle west. Early history in vaudeville Opening Night was on October 19, 1914. The performance began with the New Orpheum orchestra, under the leadership of Larry J. Powers, playing the "Illinois Loyalty", followed by "America" and "The Star-Spangled Banner". Mayor Oliver B. Dobbins gave a short speech complimenting the management for its elaborate and expensive effort to provide such