By Janelle Fisher
City Pages Editor
GREEN BAY – A new plaque was unveiled March 29 at the Tarlton Theatre in honor of the building’s inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior.
The building, which stands at 405 W. Walnut St., Green Bay, was designed and constructed nearly a century ago between 1924-25.
Green Bay Mayor Eric Genrich was in attendance at the unveiling and acknowledged the significance of the building in the city’s history — and not just for its architecture.
“The theater is obviously such an important landmark in our city’s architectural history, which is why we’re seeing this designation made by the Department of the Interior,” he said. “But it’s also become such an important community resource.”
The theatre has been known by several names, restored and reopened most recently as The Tarlton Theatre by owners Tarl Knight and Mark Mariucci.
“This opened as the West Theater, which was a streamlined modern single-screen cinema,” Knight said. “Something really notable about the space now is that it still carries the original single screen that existed in 1941. Known throughout the years as the West Pitcher Show and the Historic West Theatre, its doors reopened on December 15, 2018, as the Tarlton Theatre. It was restored as an art deco cinema and performing arts venue with a bar and a restaurant.
“And now we’re the downtown home of over a dozen feature programs on our own but also really nice cultural community partnerships with folks at the Green Bay Jazz Festival, the Green Bay Film Festival, the Weidner and UW-Green Bay… All of those things together really mean something significant… 98 years after the construction of this beautiful historic monument here in downtown Green Bay, I’m very proud to reveal to you this commemorative historic plaque that officially commemorates this building as being on the National Register of Historic Places.”
State Representative Kristina Shelton said the building has not only been important in shaping the city’s history, but also in shaping its future.
“What you’re building here is so beautiful,” she said. “I think about the future of our city, and it’s really important that we reflect on the history of our city and sort of where we’ve been and what we’ve been and who we’ve served, but also what that’s going to look like in the next generation of people. The art, the culture, the music that you have is a direct connection to where we’re going and where we’ve been.”
In that 98-year history, Knight’s partner, Mariucci, is the only person to have owned the building twice.
“This is my second stint in this building,” Mariucci said. “I needed to find a new home for a bar that I had in 2000, and I looked at this building and walked inside, and my heart just sank at the condition that it was in. I popped a ceiling tile and I looked at some architecture, mainly the curved wall, and knew that this was a space that was going to get redone and it was going to be done by me.”
Mariucci parted ways with the building in 2005, but returned more than a decade later with Knight.
“I met Tarl Knight, and Tarl, I realized, has the wherewithal to make sure we can achieve the dreams that we originally had for this building,” Mariucci said. “So we went into business together and it has been an uphill battle with great success.”
Knight said he is certain the historic theater will be around for many years to come.
“We’re going on five years, but this theater is going on 100,” he said. “We’ll make it 100 more.”