Woodland Opera House

About this property

The Woodland Opera House, listed on the National Register of Historic Places and a California Historical Landmark, is one of four fully functioning 19th century opera houses in California. It is a contributing property to the Downtown Historic District of Woodland, California. Designed in 1885 by Thomas J. Welsh, a prominent San Francisco architect, for the amount of $28,000. It was the first opera house to serve the Sacramento Valley. The builder for the community theater was Woodland contractor William Henry Curson. Several years later in July 1892 a fire that started in Dead Cat Alley behind the Opera House destroyed much of what is now the Downtown Woodland Historic District, including the Opera House. There was uncertainty whether the House would be rebuilt when a locally renowned businessman, David N. Hershey, purchased the site. Other local businessmen supported the project in addition to Hershey. The Opera House was rebuilt between 1895 and 1896 by local contractor William H. Winne at the cost of $8,990. Many of the materials from the original building were used including some of the partially standing walls. By 1913 over 300 touring companies had appeared on its stage, and the Woodland Opera House was becoming an entertainment center for the region. Nevertheless, the venue closed in that year, after ticket sales declined and the theater lost a lawsuit by an attendee who had mistaken a loading door for an exit and fell three feet, breaking an arm. The Opera house remained closed and unused for almost sixty years until 1971 when it was purchased by the Yolo County Historical Society, for a sum of $12,000. After many local fund drives, donations, and monies from several different government agencies including the City of Woodland, restoration of the building began. Declared a state historic park in 1976, the building was later deeded to the State of California in 1980. The Opera House reopened in 1989 after a $2,000,000 restoration project. Extensive work was still done over the next nine years. Gary Wirth, an architect from Woodland, oversaw the work and Brocchini & Associates of Oakland provided most of the materials for the restoration of the theater including antique wallpaper, lighting, and paint colors. In the restoration the building was made structurally safe and "earthquake proofed". Central heat and air-conditioning, a sprinkler and alarm system, and handicap access were added. An annex was constructed for storage of mechanical equipment, as well as for administrative office space, a gift counter, the Mid Level Lounge, and a rooftop exterior deck. The interior restoration effort received an Award of Merit from the California Preservation Foundation and a Citation Award from the League of Historic American Theaters.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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