{"nrhp_refnum":"06000884","name":"Hall's Opera Block","other_names":["Clark's Opera House","Avon Opera Block"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"15-19 Genesee St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Avon","county":"Livingston County","state":"NY","lat":42.91171483900007,"lon":-77.74652084499996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-09-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Entertainment/Recreation"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story Italianate brick commercial and performance building at 15-19 Genesee Street in Avon, Livingston County, New York, built in 1876 by the builders Long and Watkins for William E. Hall.","why_significant":"It is significant under Criterion C in Architecture as a well-preserved example of the multi-use commercial and recreational opera block type once common across New York State. Its exterior, with cast iron storefronts and a bracketed cornice, is little altered, and its third-floor auditorium is largely original. The stage and dressing rooms retain graffiti left by touring performers from the 1870s onward.","narrative":"Built in 1876 on part of the site of the United States Hotel, which burned in 1874, this three-story brick building on Genesee Street in Avon combined stores, offices and a third-floor auditorium. William E. Hall commissioned it, and the Avon firm Long and Watkins built it, probably without an architect. The Italianate front has cast iron storefronts made by the Washington Iron Works of Buffalo, brick window details and an elaborate bracketed wooden cornice. The auditorium held about 600 people and hosted touring theater companies, minstrel shows, local amateur productions, dances, lectures, graduations and roller skating. Speakers included Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Sojourner Truth. Walter Clark bought the building in 1896 and renamed it Clark's Opera House. Its stage and dressing rooms are covered with graffiti left by performers from the 1870s into the early twentieth century. The building was listed as a well-preserved example of a once-common community opera block, with high integrity inside and out.","period_of_significance":"1876-1930","architect_builder":"Long and Watkins, builders","architectural_style":"Italianate","criteria":["C"],"status_note":"Current function is listed as vacant; the interior is described as little altered, with part of the auditorium ceiling missing and the roof temporarily propped after water damage.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:53.39546-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/06000884.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000884/d0b41ddcfb-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06000884/d0b41ddcfb-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"Doug Kerr from now in Binghamton, NY","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halls_Opera_Block_Aug_09.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Doug Kerr from now in Binghamton, NY</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Halls_Opera_Block_Aug_09.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"100007683","name":"Avon Village Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/new-york/avon-village-historic-district-100007683/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75318651","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall%27s_Opera_Block","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5642529"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/livingston-county/halls-opera-block-06000884/"}