# Holyoke Opera House > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Holyoke_Opera_House > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Holyoke_Opera_House.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holyoke_Opera_House > Source revision: 1332808745 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|Theatre built in 1877 in Holyoke, Massachusetts}} {{use mdy dates|date=July 2025}} {{Infobox venue | name = Holyoke Opera House | nickname = | native_name = | native_name_lang = | former_names = Whiting Opera House
The Holyoke Theatre{{efn|Operated by "The Holyoke Theatre, Inc." from 1937 to 1945}}
E. M. Loew's State Theatre{{efn|Operated by E. M. Loew's as the Loew's State Theatre from 1945 to 1955}}
The State | logo_image = Holyoke Opera House (1906 logo).svg | logo_size = 150px | logo_caption = | logo_alt = One of several logos associated with the opera house | image = Holyoke Opera House in 1967.jpg | image_size = | image_alt = | caption = Holyoke Opera House as it appeared abandoned in May 1967 | pushpin_map = | pushpin_mapsize = | pushpin_map_caption = | pushpin_label_position = | address = | location = [Holyoke, Massachusetts](/source/Holyoke%2C_Massachusetts) | coordinates = {{Coord|42|12|24.152|N|72|36|20.336|W|display=inline,title}} | type = | event = | broke_ground = | built = 1877 | opened = March 25, 1878{{cite news|title=Holyoke Model Cities Program May Revive Old Opera House|date=May 21, 1967|page=69|work=Springfield Union|last=Donoghue|first=Paul A.}} | renovated = 1894{{cite news|title=Holyoke's Fine Opera House; The Interior of the Handsome Building, Which Was Opened so Successfully Last Week|date=September 23, 1894|work=Springfield Republican|location=Springfield, Mass.|page=9}} | expanded = | closed = 1955 | demolished = 1967 | owner = | operator = | surface = | scoreboard = | production = | cost = | architect = [Clarence Sumner Luce](/source/Clarence_Sumner_Luce){{cite magazine|location=Boston|magazine=American Architect and Building News|date=March 1, 1879|title=[Plans for the Holyoke Opera House]|url=https://archive.org/stream/americanarchitec05newyuoft#page/n145/mode/2up|page=70|publisher=Houghton, Osgood, & Co.}}
J. B. McElfatrick & Sons{{efn|Redesigned galleries, boxes, and stage in 1893–1894.}} | builder = [William Whiting II](/source/William_Whiting_II) | project_manager = | structural_engineer = | services_engineer = | general_contractor = Casper Ranger{{cite court |litigants=Holyoke Water Power Company v. City of Holyoke |vol=VIII |court=MA Supreme Court |date=1900 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G0YOAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA173|pinpoint=173 }} | main_contractors = | seating_type = | capacity = 1050-1375{{cite book|title=Julius Cahn's Official Theatrical Guide|url=https://archive.org/details/juliuscahnsoffic00cahn/page/64|year=1896|publisher=Julius Cahn|location=New York|chapter=Holyoke Opera House [advertisement]}} | suites = | record_attendance = | dimensions = | field_shape = | acreage = | volume = | tenants = | embedded = | website = | public_transit = }} The '''Holyoke Opera House''' was a theatre operating in [Holyoke, Massachusetts](/source/Holyoke%2C_Massachusetts) during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Built in 1877, and christened on March 25, 1878, the theater was built by then-mayor [William Whiting](/source/William_Whiting_II) who privately funded its construction along with the adjoining "Windsor House" hotel. Designed by architect [Clarence Sumner Luce](/source/Clarence_Sumner_Luce), its interior was decorated by painter and designer [Frank Hill Smith](/source/Frank_Hill_Smith), who is best known today for the frescoes in the [House of Representatives](/source/Massachusetts_House_of_Representatives)' chamber in the [Massachusetts State House](/source/Massachusetts_State_House), and whose commission for the venue's main hall paintings has been described by the [American Art Directory](/source/American_Art_Directory) and historian [John Tauranac](/source/John_Tauranac) as one of his definitive works.[https://books.google.com/books?id=YkdnQhlsvoUC&pg=PA123 American art directory, Volume 5., p. 123] New York: R.R. Bowker, 1905.{{cite book|title=Manhattan's Little Secrets: Uncovering Mysteries in Brick and Mortar, Glass|last=Tauranac|first=John|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pg9dDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA238|quote=One of his important interior-decoration commissions was for the Opera House in Holyoke, which might explain how he and the Dwights came to know each other|publisher=Globe Pequot|year=2018|isbn=9781493030484 }} Its opening show was a performance of ''Louie XI'' starring [John W. Albaugh](/source/John_W._Albaugh). In its first decades it was among the largest theaters in the country, and gained a number of notable acts. In later decades it became a [vaudeville](/source/vaudeville) and [burlesque](/source/burlesque) establishment. Following the introduction of [moving pictures](/source/Moving_picture), the opera house saw a steady decline and by the time the venue was purchased by E. M. Loew in 1945, ''[The Film Daily](/source/The_Film_Daily)'' described it as a "once-famous theater".{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/filmdaily88wids/page/n605|title=Theater Deals- Holyoke Opera House Sold|date=September 21, 1945|page=15|magazine=[The Film Daily](/source/The_Film_Daily)}} On October 29, 1967, the venue was destroyed in a [multiple-alarm fire](/source/multiple-alarm_fire), with such damage that officials could not determine its cause.{{cite news|title=Flames Sweep Former Holyoke Opera House|date=October 30, 1967|page=1|work=Springfield Union|location=Springfield, Massachusetts}}{{cite news|title=Wreckers to Pound Down Theater Shell|work=Springfield Union|page=17|date=October 31, 1967|location=Springfield, Mass.}} ==Design== {{multiple image | direction = vertical | width = 220 | align = left | footer = The Opera House, sometime before its companion structure, the Windsor Hotel, burned in 1899; longitudinal section of the theater, showing its interior as it appeared from 1878–1894, prior to the addition of 10 boxes and a second gallery; the Opera House in the immediate aftermath of the Windsor Hotel fire, March 1, 1899 | image1 = Holyoke Opera House NYPL Stereocard Enhanced.png | image2 = Longitudinal_section%2C_Holyoke_Opera_House.jpg | image3 = Windsor Hotel fire and Holyoke Opera House.jpg}} ===Exterior=== Constructed by Casper Ranger, the exterior was described as being made of contrasting light Philadelphia and dark Holyoke pressed bricks with bands and accents done in black brick. At the front gable were panels done in [Victorian majolica](/source/Victorian_majolica) of [sock and buskin](/source/sock_and_buskin){{clarify|date=May 2024}} on opposite sides of the building's "Opera House" nameplate.{{cite journal|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=coo.31924071607216;view=1up;seq=241;size=200|journal=[Scientific American](/source/Scientific_American) Supplement|title=The Whiting Building and Opera House, Holyoke, Mass., Mr. C. S. Luce, Architect|issue=119|pages=1895–1896|volume=V|date=April 13, 1878}} The opera house, originally being a part of the Windsor House Hotel, was previously attached by a small wooden hallway until that building caught fire on March 1, 1899, taking out most other buildings in that block as firefighters fought late into the night.{{cite map|title=Image 7 of Sanborn Fire Insurance Map from Holyoke, Hampden County, Massachusetts.|publisher=Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps|date=1884-09-30|url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Sanborn_Fire_Insurance_Map_from_Holyoke,_Hampden_County,_Massachusetts._LOC_sanborn03751_001-7.jpg}}{{cite news|title=Fire Raging in Holyoke; Windsor Hotel and Other Buildings Destroyed–Flames Unchecked|newspaper=[New-York Tribune](/source/New-York_Tribune)|date=March 1, 1899|page=9|location=New York}}{{efn|Not to be confused with the "Windsor Hotel" in New York City which burned within 2 weeks of Holyoke's.}} ===Interior=== {{multiple image | direction = horizontal | total_width = 300 | align = right | footer = Details of the original stage-right box (''left''), and the six which replaced it (''right'') during the reconstruction and expansion of the auditorium in 1894 | image1 = Ornamentation, Holyoke Opera House.jpg | image2 = Boxes_in_Holyoke_Opera_House,_1895.jpg}} The interior of the theater was originally described as being decorated in a [Neo-Grec](/source/Neo-Grec) style, with the auditorium's first floor containing a [parterre](/source/Theater_(structure)), [orchestra pit](/source/orchestra_pit), and one gallery. The ceiling was described as having large ornate cornices with 8 lunettes forming vaults, each ornately decorated with muses and cherubs by [Frank Hill Smith](/source/Frank_Hill_Smith), leading up into a shallower [gadrooned](/source/gadrooning) flat dome with a [rosace](/source/rosace)-shaped grate which served as the ventilation for the theater, with a large brass chandelier hanging from its center. Much of the ornamental work, such as [capitals](/source/capital_(architecture)), was executed in [papier-mâché](/source/papier-m%C3%A2ch%C3%A9). A large renovation and reconstruction of the auditorium gallery was undertaken between May and September of 1894, with a rededication on September 22, 1894, featuring a performance by [Alessandro Salvini](/source/Tommaso_Salvini), and attended by [Governor William Russell](/source/William_Russell_(governor)). The opera house was effectively rechristened as renovations removed almost entirely all of the building's original elements from the dome's cornice downward, including the aforementioned papier-mâché features, which were replaced by [stucco](/source/stucco) designed and constructed by the Architectural Decorative Company in Boston. The gallery was razed and replaced by 2, and the theater was described as the 2nd largest in New England at that time in capacity. The stage was described as having an archway 30 feet high and 37 feet wide, with red, green, and white globes alternating in 5 rows of border lights, and one of footer lights, each row having 88 respective lights, both gas and electric. A new custom-made chandelier was added, with 120 jets for gas lighting and 120 globes for lightbulbs. Paintings of muses and cherubs were added, one to each side of the proscenium, it is unknown whether these were done by F. H. Smith, however his original paintings on the dome are referred to in one 1894 report as "the only points in which the new house resembles the old one". ==Notable performances== {{expand section|date=January 2019}} ===Music=== The opera house would serve as a venue for a number of notable performers, including singer-entertainer [Eva Tanguay](/source/Eva_Tanguay), who was first promoted there as a child actress by local theater manager Paul C. Winkelmann in the 1880s, and returned to the venue years later after establishing herself as a household name.{{cite book|chapter=Paul C. Winkelmann|page=471|title=A Modern History of New Haven and Eastern New Haven County|volume=II|last=Hill|first=Everett Gleason|publisher=The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company|year=1918|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yQsWAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA471}}{{cite news|title=Opera House|date=August 21, 1973|work=Holyoke Transcript-Telegram|page=2}} ===Plays=== Noted performers included [John W. Albaugh](/source/John_W._Albaugh) playing his best-known titular role in ''Louis XI'' at the theater's opening show on March 26, 1878. Numerous plays were performed at the Opera House during the first several decades of its existence, it was one of the venues where [William Gillette](/source/William_Gillette) premiered his 1894 comedy ''Too Much Johnson''.{{cite news|title=William Gillette's New Play and Role|work=New York Herald|date=October 26, 1894|location=New York|page=10}} ===Films=== Among the early films seen at the venue were those by [Lyman H. Howe](/source/Lyman_H._Howe), which appeared for several seasons in the early 1900s.{{cite news|title=At the Holyoke Theaters|quote=Holyoke Opera House. Monday evening—P. K. Matus's Royal Hungarian court orchestra...Saturday matinee and evening—Lyman K. Howes's moving pictures...One of the interesting announcements of the week is the return this season of [Lyman K. Howes](/source/Lyman_H._Howe) [sic] moving pictures. These have been seen at the Holyoke opera house for two seasons, and have pleased large audiences both times|date=February 8, 1903|page=20|work=Springfield Republican|location=Springfield, Massachusetts}} [L. Frank Baum](/source/L._Frank_Baum), the creator of ''[The Wizard of Oz](/source/The_Wizard_of_Oz)'' also shared the big screen of the Holyoke once it became a cinema in 1922. ===Lectures=== On three occasions, the orator [Robert G. Ingersoll](/source/Robert_G._Ingersoll) would deliver addresses on the Opera House stage, in the years 1880, 1885, and 1894, on the subjects "How to be Saved?", "Which Way?", and Shakespeare respectively.{{cite web|website=Ingersoll Chronology|publisher=Center for Inquiry|location=Amherst, New York|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191004233912/https://chronology.secularhumanism.org/?_sft_locations=holyoke|archive-date=October 4, 2019|title=[Location: Holyoke] Robert Green Ingersoll Chronology|url=https://chronology.secularhumanism.org/?_sft_locations=holyoke}} ==See also== * [Victory Theater](/source/Victory_Theater), the sole remaining historical theater building in the city * [Valley Arena Gardens](/source/Valley_Arena_Gardens), another defunct Holyoke venue, primarily used for boxing with some shows and entertainment, of a similar architectural style ==Notes== {{notelist}} ==References== {{reflist}} ==External links== {{commons category}} * [http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/3714 E. M. Loew's State Theatre], Cinema Treasures * [http://www.holyokecanaltour.org/holyoke-theater/ "Holyoke Theater"], holyokecanaltour.org Category:Theatres in Massachusetts Category:1878 establishments Category:Theatres completed in 1878 Category:1955 disestablishments in Massachusetts Category:Demolished buildings and structures in Massachusetts Category:Demolished theatres in the United States Category:Round buildings Category:Former cinemas and movie theaters in the United States Category:Music venues completed in 1878 --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Holyoke Opera House](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holyoke_Opera_House) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holyoke_Opera_House?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.