Park Place Cinemas

319 W. Milwaukee Street,
Janesville, WI 53548

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Associated Prudential Theaters Inc., Fox Circuit, Rogers Cinemas, Saxe Amusement Enterprises, Skouras Theatres, United Artists Theater Circuit Inc.

Architects: Martin S. Tullgren

Styles: Art Deco

Previous Names: Jeffris Theatre, Ormson Cinemas 1-2, UA Movies at Janesville

Nearby Theaters

Park Place Cinemas

The Jeffris Theatre was opened by Saxe Amusements in 1924. It was damaged by fire on March 27, 1983. On September 2, 1983 it reopened as Ormson Cinemas 1 & 2. On May 23, 1986 it was taken over by United Artists and was renamed UA Movies at Janesville. It closed in 1989.

On October 11, 1991 it reopened as the 3-screen Park Place Cinemas. Two more screen were opened upstairs on November 22, 1991. It was closed in 1998

Contributed by Bryan Krefft

Recent comments (view all 15 comments)

dallasmovietheaters
dallasmovietheaters on August 4, 2015 at 10:40 am

To clarify something above, Rogers Cinema Circuit of Marshfield, Wisconsin bought the theater (not Marshall Field). Also Skouris Theatre Corporation bought the Jeffris in July of 1968 and operated under the United Artists Theatre Circuit. It started with Saxe Theatres so was Saxe’s Jeffris. Then Saxe was sold to Fox-Wisconsin Theatres becoming the Fox Jeffris. The Fox circuit was broken up as part of the Paramount consent decree and Associated Prudential Theaters Inc. Circuit of New York took on the theater advertising it as Johnny Prudential Theaters until being sold to Skouris.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on December 20, 2015 at 6:39 pm

Plans for the Saxe Bros. house that became the Jeffris Theatre were in the works as early as April, 1922, when the project was reported in various construction trade journals. Later, both Saxe Bros. and the architects, Martin Tullgren & Sons, were named as defendants in a lawsuit filed as a result of the partial collapse of the building during construction in 1923.

Allan
Allan on July 30, 2016 at 11:56 pm

The theatre that refused to die. After the fire of 1966, the theatre opened much sooner than 1983. It was open all during the 70s as seen by the Moonraker film marquee. I saw quite a few films there including Grease in 1978. Three of the pics were taken by me in the Fall of 2015 and the theatre is still standing. The hotel that was mentioned has been vacant for decades so it does not need any parking. Good thing. The theater although gutted still remains.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on July 31, 2016 at 4:00 am

The theater’s entrance building remains, but as can be seen in Google’s satellite view the original auditorium has been demolished. Its footprint was quite large, extending most of the way to Dodge Street, and can be seen in historic aerial photos. In one of Allan’s 2015 photos the top of a piece of heavy equipment can be seen beyond a wall. That piece of equipment was sitting where part of the auditorium had been.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on July 31, 2016 at 4:16 am

Forgot the link to Historic Aerials. And now that I think of it, the brick wall over which the piece of equipment can be seen probably is what’s left of the old auditorium wall. The auditorium was wider than the entrance building. The wall was apparently cut down and capped.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on November 24, 2019 at 4:59 pm

1955 photo added courtesy Steve Betz.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on December 1, 2020 at 2:49 pm

Vacant lot as of July 2018.

rivest266
rivest266 on April 14, 2021 at 10:38 am

This opened as the Jeffries theatre on October 4th, 1924. Grand opening ad posted. More to come.

rivest266
rivest266 on April 14, 2021 at 1:54 pm

Burns down on March 27th, 1983.
Article:

Found on Newspaperarchive.com

rivest266
rivest266 on April 15, 2021 at 9:47 am

More info: Reopened as Ormson Cinemas 1 & 2 on September 2nd, 1983 and taken over by United Artists on May 23rd, 1986, and renamed UA Movies at Janesville and closed in 1989. It reopened as the Park Place Cinemas with 3 screens on October 11th, 1991 and two more screens opened upstairs on November 22nd, 1991, and closed in 1998. Grand opening ads posted.

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