Statewide Opera House Survey
Earlville Opera House
In the popular imagination, the term “Opera House” conjures up a fanciful image, whether it be New York City patrons in their finest attire attending performances at the old Met or the brightly lit and elegant arcade of the modern Metropolitan Opera House. There is perhaps no more recognizable image than the distinctive Sydney Opera House. Its iconic roofline like unfurling concrete sails, it is an indelible image of the city and of Australia. However, to many residents living around New York state, “Opera House” has an entirely different meaning. Not one of high culture, but one of local entertainment and community.
My name is Greg Socinski, a historic preservationist and carpenter based in Vermont, just across the lake from New York. Though my roots run deep in my home state, I’ve always been interested in all things New York. From my days as an undergrad in Saratoga Springs systematically biking down every street in the city, to my most recent project rehabbing a 1930’s-era camp in Essex, the Empire State and its rich history have always been a source exploration and wonder for me. When the opportunity arose to partner with the Preservation League of New York State to create an inventory of Opera Houses throughout the state, I was excited to spend some time away from the saws and sanders and behind the computer conducting research on this building type. This project will include reaching out to local historians, preservation partners, and regional historical societies to create an informational database of these architectural resources. Outreach, coupled with my own research into these properties and structures, will yield a comprehensive inventory that can be used as a jumping off point for further study and surveying.
Davis Opera House. Photo by Bruce Harvey.
The community opera house, as a building type, is not easily defined. It’s certainly not an “opera house” in the Metropolitan sense, as in a building specifically designed for performances of opera. Many of the opera houses around the state chose to label a building an “opera house” to imbue a bit more cultural clout, when in fact it is a building with many uses. Most were built in the latter half of the 19th century and served as a cultural and societal hub for a growing town that felt it needed one. The opera house, in our definition, generally takes the form of having commercial or municipal functions along the easily accessible ground floor, whether it be a storefront, town hall, or library, with the upper stories housing a large auditorium with a stage, seating, and often a balcony. This space was used as a performing arts venue, staging opera, vaudeville, musical acts, and theater. But it could also be used as a communal gathering place for the town, whether it be to hold a graduation ceremony or act as a polling place.
Bents Opera House, Medina
Municipalities throughout the state have embraced their unique opera houses, leading to the revitalization of a building type that nearly went extinct last century, with the expansion of the suburbs and the advent of movies and television as the primary form of entertainment. The Earlville Opera House, for example, has been run by a volunteer-based, nonprofit organization since 1972, using the historic 1892 opera house as communal space for performances, an art gallery, and arts education programming. More, however, remain underused or vacant but still standing, like the Waterville Opera House, an Italianate commercial block built in 1880 with first floor storefronts and a 400-seat opera house above. Many more have been lost, as I’ve found by researching an address, only to find a vacant downtown lot on Google Maps.Our hope is that this inventory project will allow for greater exposure and awareness of this underutilized building type and provide opportunities for future preservation and restoration of these important historic opera houses.
Greg Socinski is interning with the Preservation League of NYS to create a comprehensive database of extant historic opera houses throughout the state. This internship project is underwritten by the Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation. In 2018-2019, Historic Opera Houses were included on our biennial Seven to Save list of at-risk historic places. This project is a continuation of work that began during that Seven to Save cycle. If there is a historic opera house in your community, feel free to reach out to Greg by emailing gsocinski@preservenys.org.