Grand 1894 Opera House, Opera house in Downtown Cultural Arts District, Galveston, United States
The Grand 1894 Opera House is a Romanesque Revival theatre at 2020 Post Office Street in downtown Galveston, Texas. Its front wall combines red stone, brick and terra cotta, and carved stone arches frame the glass doors. The auditorium seats 1,040, with red velvet curtains around the stage and eight opera boxes, blue velour on the chairs, and a ceiling stencilled with roses and scrolls.
Henry Greenwall closed his Tremont Opera House and raised $100,000 to build The Grand Opera House and Hotel on Post Office Street. It opened on January 3, 1895 with a live performance of the play The Daughters of Eve. The 1900 hurricane caved in its rear wall and roof; the building later passed through vaudeville into a movie house, which closed in 1974, the year the Galveston County Cultural Arts Council bought it and restored it as a theatre.
Post Office Street, where the opera house stands, has long been the cultural spine of downtown Galveston. Inside, the restored 19th-century interior still hosts concerts, theater productions, and readings that draw performers from across the region.
The venue is on Post Office Street in downtown Galveston and easy to reach on foot from most of the central area. Checking the event calendar before your visit helps you plan around performances, as the program changes regularly.
In 1990, the rock band Mötley Crüe filmed their music video for 'Without You' inside this building. That connection to rock music history sits in sharp contrast to the venue's classical roots and is something most visitors do not expect.
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