The Grand Opera House is a historic

opera house An opera house is a theatre building used for performances of opera. It usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and building sets. While some venues are constructed specifically for o ...

Ashland, Wisconsin Ashland is a city in Ashland and Bayfield counties in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the county seat of Ashland County. The city is a port on Lake Superior, near the head of Chequamegon Bay. The population was 7,908 at the 2020 census, al ...

. The building was one of the first theatres in the region, and was originally a

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment born in France at the end of the 19th century. A vaudeville was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a dramatic composition ...

/opera house/ live performance venue. Built in 1893, it was designed by architect

Oscar Cobb Oscar Cobb was an American architect of theaters and more. Several of his works are listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Works Works (with variations in attribution) include: * DuPont-Whitehouse House, built in 1875 and 1876 by ...

. It is located in a spot that was originally surrounded by hotels. The massive two-story brick building was built in the

Romanesque Revival Style Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended to ...

. The auditorium is located on the second floor, which features graceful

arch An arch is a vertical curved structure that spans an elevated space and may or may not support the weight above it, or in case of a horizontal arch like an arch dam, the hydrostatic pressure against it. Arches may be synonymous with vaul ...

ed windows on the front side. The street level contains two

storefront A storefront or shopfront is the facade or entryway of a retail store located on the ground floor or street level of a commercial building, typically including one or more display windows. A storefront functions to attract visual attention to a bu ...

spaces with square window designs. According to the 1893

Ashland Daily Press The ''Ashland Daily Press'' (or simply ''Daily Press'') is a twice-weekly newspaper based in Ashland, Wisconsin. American Consolidated Media(ACM) bought the paper in 2007; in 2014, Adams Publishing Group (APG) acquired 34 papers, including the ...

''Annual Edition'', the original plan and location for this building were different. Proposed at a corner of Sixth Avenue West and Main Street West, it was built instead at the present location with a smaller and less expensive design. This was likely due to the

financial panic of 1893 The Panic of 1893 was an economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected every sector of the economy, and produced political upheaval that led to the political realignment of 1896 and the presid ...

. With Vacant and in need of restoration, the opera house received some redevelopment, including the restoration of the front facade. The building is a

contributing resource In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

within the West Second Street Historic District, of downtown Ashland. With Although not located directly on Second Street (later renamed Main Street), it is still considered a contribution to the Historic District, being located close to the District on a side street. In later years, the building housed a

liquor store A liquor store is a retail shop that predominantly sells prepackaged liquors – typically in bottles – usually intended to be consumed off the store's premises. Depending on region and local idiom, they may also be called an off-licence (i ...

and a

gun shop A gun shop (also known by various other names such as firearm store and gun store) is a business that sells firearms, such as handguns and long guns, to individuals in an open shopping format. It may also provide repairs for firearms and their p ...

References

External links

Grand Opera House
a
Cinematreasures.org
{{Portal, Theatre, Opera, Architecture Opera houses Opera houses in Wisconsin Event venues established in 1893 Vaudeville theaters 1893 establishments in Wisconsin Ashland, Wisconsin