{"nrhp_refnum":"11000117","name":"South San Francisco Opera House","other_names":["Bayview Opera House"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"4701-4705 Third St and 1601 Newcomb Ave","address_restricted":false,"city":"San Francisco","county":"San Francisco","state":"CA","lat":37.73511926400005,"lon":-122.39010593299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2011-03-21","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Social History","Entertainment/Recreation","Performing Arts","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A one-story Italianate wood-frame opera house and social hall at 4701-4705 Third Street/1601 Newcomb Avenue in the Bayview-Hunters Point district of San Francisco, built in 1888 alongside a Masonic Hall that has since been demolished.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the building as significant under Criterion A, in the areas of social history and entertainment/recreation. It served as a performance venue and community social hall for the remote, working-class South San Francisco district. Its ornate Italianate/Stick-style facade and intact auditorium still convey a late nineteenth century Victorian theater.","narrative":"Built in 1888 at the corner of Third Street and Newcomb Avenue in San Francisco's Bayview-Hunters Point district, this one-story wood-frame building was designed as a multi-use opera house and social hall. Its north facade is an ornate Italianate composition with a bracketed parapet, a band of pointed arches, sunburst ornament, a date panel reading 1888, and a pedimented entrance with carved finials. Inside, an open auditorium has a stage, proscenium arch, wainscoting and a narrow perimeter balcony, and it never had fixed seating. A Masonic Hall built with it was demolished in 1975, and a porch addition went onto the west wall during city renovations in the 1970s. The building was listed for its role in social history and entertainment in what was then a remote, working-class district near the slaughterhouses of Butchertown. It still operates as a theater and meeting hall with community and youth arts programs.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Henry Geilfuss (architectural drawings for the Masonic Hall and Opera House)","architectural_style":"Late Victorian/Italianate","criteria":["A"],"status_note":"Still used as a meeting hall and theater, including community and youth arts programs; the proscenium arch and auditorium floor were restored in 2010.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:29.771545-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/11000117.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000117/ff4846335a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000117/ff4846335a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:South_San_Francisco_Opera_House,_1601_Newcomb_Ave.,_San_Francisco,_CA_6-12-2011_5-36-01_PM.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Sanfranman59</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:South_San_Francisco_Opera_House,_1601_Newcomb_Ave.,_San_Francisco,_CA_6-12-2011_5-36-01_PM.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123861309","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayview_Opera_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q24894286"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/san-francisco/south-san-francisco-opera-house-11000117/"}