{"nrhp_refnum":"74002071","name":"Grand Opera House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2012-2020 Ave. E","address_restricted":false,"city":"Galveston","county":"Galveston County","state":"TX","lat":29.29665728300006,"lon":-94.79071624499994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1974-01-02","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Performing Arts"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A combined opera house and hotel building at 2012-2020 Avenue E (Postoffice Street) in Galveston, Texas, built in 1894 in a regional Romanesque Revival style and opened to the public on January 3, 1895.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that the building replaced the smaller Tremont Opera House and gave Galveston first-class opera and drama at the height of theatrical popularity. It also records the shift from stage theater to movie theater, since the Grand Opera House adapted to film rather than failing as many theaters did. Its design is notable for early use of modern acoustic principles and advanced mechanical equipment.","narrative":"Built in 1894 on Postoffice Street in Galveston, the Grand Opera House and the attached Hotel Grand formed a single block designed by New Orleans architect Frank Cox. The front is St. Louis pressed brick with buff stone trim and terra cotta ornament, arranged in six bays with a mansard-roofed entrance tower. The auditorium seated nearly fifteen hundred and avoided square corners to reduce echoes, an early use of modern acoustic ideas. It also had gas and electric lighting and two hot-air furnaces. Galveston businessmen invested in the project after theater manager Henry Greenwall pressed for a safer, larger house than the Tremont. After opening in January 1895, it staged opera, drama and musical comedy, then gradually turned to motion pictures, showing its first film in 1896. Renamed in 1924 and again as the State in 1937, it survived the change in entertainment tastes with its basic structure intact, which is the main reason for its listing.","period_of_significance":"19th Century (specific date 1894)","architect_builder":"Frank Cox of Cox Brothers, New Orleans (architect); Barnes and Palliser of Galveston (builders)","architectural_style":"Regional version of Romanesque Revival, with Richardsonian grouping and Sullivanesque influence in the entrance arch","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed as good condition and altered, occupied, in use for entertainment; the basic structure remains intact, though original decorations are painted over and the boxes have been removed.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:18.709324-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/9720/40972026/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_TX/74002071.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002071/6bc9340af2-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/74002071/6bc9340af2-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Jim Evans","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Galveston_Grand_Opera_House.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jim Evans</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:Galveston_Grand_Opera_House.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"96000539","name":"Silk Stocking Residential Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/texas/silk-stocking-residential-historic-district-96000539/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/40972026","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_1894_Opera_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5594218"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/texas/galveston-county/grand-opera-house-74002071/"}