The Rivieria is a marina and mixed-use meeting hall at the shore of Geneva Lake in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, United States. Riviera Beach is an adjacent daily admission beach.HistoryLake Geneva, Wisconsin, emerged as a resort town in the 1870s, popularized by images of its side-wheeler steamboats. The lakeshore at Broad Street became the main water transportation hub when a railroad station opened there in 1871. Until 1902, when a road circling the lake opened, boat travel was the only practical mode of transportation around Geneva Lake. Starting in 1912, the United States Postal Service began summertime mail delivery from this point. By the 1930s, residents felt the need for a new recreational facility at this location. Despite the ongoing Great Depression, residents approves an $85,000 bond issue to raise funds for construction.A small island was created by building a rubble mound and allowing sediment to build up. To improve the stability of the structure, 280 piles were driven into the bedrock below. The first pile was put in place on March 29, 1932, and the entire building was completed in time for a dance on September 1 later that year. Local architect James Roy Allen was selected to design the building. The total cost was only $55,000. In 1980, the building was rehabilitated by local architect Daniel Curran. As the "most intact historic building associated with transportation in the Geneva Lake area," the Riviera was listed on the National Register of Historic Places by the National Park Service on April 3, 1986.
