• Paterson Opera House, Paterson, NJ

    Submitted by scott on

    The Paterson Opera House was opened on April 2, 1866.In 1900 it was severely damaged in a fire. It was rebuilt and reopened in 1901. In 1914 another fire caused some damage and following renovations it reopened as the U.S. Photo Play Theatre on March 6, 1916 with the film “Battle Cry of Peace”. It was listed in 1930 as the United States Theatre with a 2,000 seat capacity and equipped with an RCA sound system. It was operated by the Stanley Warner chain and was closed in September 1967.

    The building was sold and demolished in 1969.

  • Opera House, Keokuk, IA

    Submitted by scott on

    The Grand Theatre was designed by Merle F. Baker and was constructed on the foundation of the Keokuk Opera House (Circa 1880) which burned in 1923. It was patterned after theaters in Chicago and was praised as one of the finest theaters in the country at the time.
    http://www.keokukiowatourism.org/theatre.htm 

    It Happened In Keokuk  Friday, December 7, 1923  

    KEOKUK'S 43 YEAR OLD OPERA HOUSE IS GUTTED IN EARLY MORNING BLAZE. 

  • Odd Fellows Hall, Norristown, Pennsylvania

    Submitted by scott on

    The Centre Theater at 208 DeKalb St. Norristown, is occupying a structure steeped in Montgomery County history. The original building opened in 1851 as the Odd Fellows lodge hall and public auditorium. From 1851 to 1873, the Odd Fellows auditorium provided the primary site for entertaining people who traveled from many corners of the region. Vaudeville acts performed in the early days.

  • Hagenbuch Opera House, Allentown

    Submitted by scott on

    Not referred to as the Hagenbuch Opera House in Twain References.

    Allentown, Pennsylvania’s first major theater opened in 1870 near the corner of 8th and Hamilton Streets. It was known by several names including the Academy of Music and Military Hall. However, most locals referred to it as the Hagenbuch Opera House in reference to the family who built it.

  • Teatro di San Carlo, Naples

    Submitted by scott on

    The Real Teatro di San Carlo (English: Royal Theatre of Saint Charles) is an opera house in Naples, Italy. It is located adjacent to the central Piazza del Plebiscito, and connected to the Royal Palace. It is the oldest continuously active venue for public opera in Europe, opening decades before both the Milanese La Scala and Venetian La Fenice theaters.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teatro_di_San_Carlo

    The Upper Crust of Naples

  • La Scala

    Submitted by scott on

    La Scala (Italian: Teatro alla Scala), is a world-renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala (Nuovo Regio Ducale Teatro alla Scala). The premiere performance was Antonio Salieri's Europa riconosciuta.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Scala

  • Taylor Opera House

    Submitted by scott on

    Taylor Opera House was an opera house in Trenton, New Jersey. It was the city's first theater, and was founded by John Taylor, creator of Pork Roll and one of Trenton's leading citizens. The building first opened March 18, 1867 at 18 S. Broad Street. A historical marker was placed on the site after its demolition.

  • Athenaeum, Brooklyn

    Submitted by scott on

    The Brooklyn Athenaeum and Reading Room was founded in 1852 by a group of prominent Brooklyn citizens as a library and respite for young men, where they could gather as well for instruction as for that innocent relaxation, which the wear and tear of mercantile life so imperiously demands, according to its first president, John Taylor, in his first annual report.

  • Allyn Hall, Hartford, Connecticut

    Submitted by scott on

    The Allyn Hall Fire, commonly referred to as the “Auditorium Fire” or the “Happy Hour Fire,” occurred less than a week later on February 26, 1914. The auditorium, which opened in 1856, hosted many political gatherings as well as theatrical events. The building also housed a restaurant, offices, and a movie theater, which had begun showing “moving pictures” in 1909.

  • Boston Music Hall

    Submitted by scott on

    The Boston Music Hall was a concert hall located on Winter Street in Boston, Massachusetts, with an additional entrance on Hamilton Place.

    One of the oldest continuously operating theaters in the United States, it was built in 1852 and was the original home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. The hall closed in 1900 and was converted into a vaudeville theater named the Orpheum Theatre.  The Orpheum, which still stands today, was substantially rebuilt in 1915 by architect Thomas W. Lamb as a movie theater.

  • Opera House, Brockton, Massachusetts

    Submitted by scott on

    November 14, 1884 

    Mark Twain had complained that there was not enough notice of this event to generate a suitable audience. Here is the text from the notice published in the Brockton Enterprise, November 1, 1884: \

    "OPERA HOUSE.--M.W. Hanley's company, presenting Harrigan & Hart's play, "Dan;s Tribulations," will be at this house November 6th. Nov.9th the Flora Myers company return for a season of dramatic representations at popular prices. The 14th Mark Twain, the humorist, and Mr. George W. Cable, the novelist, will appear in a lecture and readings."  

  • Blackstone Hall Building, Providence, RI

    Submitted by scott on

    November 8, 1884 

    We were able to determine from the Providence Board of Trade Journal (vol. 2, p.94, 1891) that Blackstone Hall was on the corners of Washington and Snow Streets in downtown Providence. And that it could accommodate 500-600 people. We could not identify a specific address.  

    We do have a copy of a glass plate negative of Blackstone Hall which locates it at Washington and Acorn Sts. In the photo we believe the hall is the building with the cupola as it was described as "architecturally excellent" in that same Board of Trade mention. 

  • Gilmore's Opera House, Springfield, MA

    Submitted by scott on

    The Capitol was originally built as the Gilmore Opera House in 1857!  It burnt down in 1864, remodelled and reopened in 1865. In April, 1920, it became the Capitol Theater. It had a balcony with a total of 1,450 seats. A prosenium arch curved around the stage/screen and to the right of it, in a wall niche, was a 2,500 pipe Austin organ that was played during it’s silent movie days.  The exterior front had a long marquee with narrow title space on the front. Two verticle signs spelling Capitol hung on the building above either side of the marquee.

  • Music Hall, Orange, New Jersey

    Submitted by scott on

    An 1887 business directory sets the Music Hall's location at the corner of Main and N. Day Street. Subsequent names for the hall are 1908 - Orange Theatre and 1920 - Bijou Theatre both with the address of 243 Main Street. The Music Hall was designed and built in 1880 by architecture firm Silliman & Farnsworth (picture and source attached). 

  • Maguire's Opera House, San Francisco

    Submitted by scott on

    Opened: 1856. The three story Maguire's Opera House was the first San Francisco theatre built with the intention of housing grand opera with its big stage, a large pit, and good rigging. Although the house was supposedly dedicated to opera they also ran minstrel shows, burlesque, farce, and melodrama.

  • Maguire's Opera House, Virginia City

    Submitted by scott on

    While Sam had been away in San Francisco [May to July of 1863], the impresario Tom Maguire, a former cab driver and gambler, had built a sixteen-hundred-seat theater on D Street near Union in Virginia City patterned after his opulent opera house in San Francisco, and it was routinely crowded with folks eager to see such popular local favorites as Lotta Crabtree, Julia Dean Hayne, and Frank Mayo.

  • Harrington's Opera House, Providence, Rhode Island

    Submitted by scott on

    Despite the bickering over location, the city purchased several lots between 1854 and 1857 near the corner of Dorrance and Washington streets. The purchase of the assembled lots–now called the “City Hall Lot”–did little to end the controversy. With plans for a City Hall stalled, in 1864 the site was leased to C.N. Harrington who constructed a two-story wood frame theater there.

  • Brown's Hall, Rockford, IL

    Submitted by scott on

    In 1863 the Rockford post office was located on S. Main Street what was then the Holland Block. At that time there was no mail delivery and people living on the east side of the river were forced to walk to retrieve their mail. So great was the agitation that several prominent citizens talked of building the post office on West State Street. Finally Horace Brown came forward and said that if he could be assured of the post office he would build a structure to house it. This assurance was given and the construction was begun. When the building was completed Mrs.