Property Record
1345 2ND AVE
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | ZIM ZIM THEATER |
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| Other Name: | ISLE THEATER |
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| Reference Number: | 144785 |
| Location (Address): | 1345 2ND AVE |
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| County: | Barron |
| City: | Cumberland |
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| Year Built: | 1921 |
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| Additions: | C. 1950 |
| Survey Date: | 2020 |
| Historic Use: | theater |
| Architectural Style: | Astylistic Utilitarian Building |
| Structural System: | |
| Wall Material: | Brick |
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| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
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| National/State Register Listing Name: | Not listed |
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| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation-Public History. Resurveyed in July 2020 by UWM-CRM as part of the WisDOT USH 63 reconstruction project. The Zim Zim Theater was built in 1921 with later renovations in 1935 and the 1950s. The original portion of the building is rectangular in plan, two stories in height, and clad in brick with a modest corbelled cornice. Around 1950, a one-story projecting lobby was added onto the front (2nd Ave.) elevation. The lobby is clad in random ashlar stone veneer and has a modern window and entry door wall assembly. An aluminum-framed poster display window is inset in the stone wall at the north end of the elevation. The lobby is capped with a flat roof that projects out over the sidewalk and forms a marquee canopy. The canopy is angled in plan, with the south corner projecting further than the north corner. The edge of the canopy is banded in polished metal, and a horizontal row of light bulbs runs along its entire length. The canopy is topped with an electronic sign reading “ISLE” with neon tubes arranged in Art Deco-style stripes and curves. Behind the 1950s addition, the second story of the original building contains three windows with aluminum-framed double hung windows. The Zim Zim Theater opened as a vaudeville stage in 1921, hosting “photo-plays,” dances, an arcade, and touring shows. In 1935, the building was renovated as a movie theater and renamed the Isle Theater. Based on historic photos, the Isle Theater had a projecting marquee and a symmetrical façade with a central ticket window flanked by paired entry doors and single entry doors in either end of the elevation. In the early 1950s, the building underwent another renovation to add the existing lobby and canopy. The Isle Theater remained in use until 1997. It reopened between 2008 and 2012 but is currently not in use. Based on 2007 photos, the building retained much of its original interior finishes and configuration, including pressed metal walls and ceilings, fold-down seats, and simple rectangular auditorium with raked floor. |
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| Bibliographic References: | Peterson, Brent T. Cumberland: The Island City [Images of America]. Charleston: Arcadia Publishing, 2019, 88. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |