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A 600-seat theatre on the third floor of the 1890-constructed Lighthouse Building, the Lighthouse Theatre held plays, concerts, and various public events. Most famously, it hosted Mark Twain during his 1895 visit to Bellingham.
Despite having a great stage and acoustics, the Lighthouse also had poor dressing room accommodations and was labeled by the Daily Reveille as a “death trap” in the event of a fire. Despite concerns, no fire ever endangered a Lighthouse audience.
The theatre was converted to office space by World War I, and the building—opulently crafted from Chuckanut sandstone—was demolished in 1959. A Bank of America branch is now in its place. The only indication of the Lighthouse’s existence is a pinkish shadow on the upper, Holly Street-facing wall of the Hotel Leopold.