During its two years in operation, the local architectural firm of Kolben, Hunter, and Boyd designed this classical revival style red brick and decorative stone theater in response to oil boom demands for expanded cultural opportunities. At street level, the Rialto has been "modernized" with carerra glass panels and ceramic tiles applied over the original cast stone wall and transom windows. On the interior, ostentation and creature comfort were the standard, which earned the Rialto a reputation as a showplace of the South. Commissioned by the locally prominent Clark-McWilliams families, its state-of-the-art heating, cooling, sound, and projection systems were considered to be among the most modern and sound perfect in the Southwest. Although the Rialto closed its doors in the mid-1970s, it was restored and reopened in 1987.