• Date: 1921
• Style: Spanish Rennaissance Revival
• Architect: J.S. Aroner
• District: Downtown Historic Registry

The Palace Theatre was designed by architect J. S. Aroner of Chicago. It was built in 1921 by the Ralph Sollitt Company of Chicago after the company established a regional office in South Bend in 1919. Upon opening in October 1922, the Palace showed motion pictures and was the new home for the vaudeville Orpheum Theatre that first opened in 1910. The first movie in sound to be shown in the Palace Theatre was in 1929 and the last vaudeville show was performed in March 1930. The building is an outstanding example of a theatre built during the transition from vaudeville to motion pictures. Decorated with the lavish ornamentation that was typical of early 20th-century theatres, the Palace Theatre is one of South Bend's few examples of the Spanish Renaissance Revival architecture and is the only theatre that has remained in continuous use in South Bend.

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