Long before the famous Sydney Opera House on Bennelong Point, the city of Sydney, Australia, had several entertainment venues described as "opera houses".
Long before the famous Sydney Opera House on Bennelong Point, the city of Sydney, Australia, had several entertainment venues described as "opera houses".
Built in 1879 on land owned by I. J. Josephson and opened as Kelly and Leon's Opera House for the New York minstrel company of that name, it was situated on King Street near the York Street intersection; a number of smaller buildings at the corner of Pitt Street and York Street being demolished to make way for the grand building. The architects were Backhouse & Sons. [1] When Kelly and Leon's lease expired their name was dropped and the venue was advertised for lease. [2]
It reopened as "Sydney Opera House" in September 1880 [3] and for much of the 1880s was under the management of W. J. Wilson (father of Frank Hawthorne), who was joined by Eduardo Majeroni in 1884. [4]
In February 1900 the orchestra struck for payment of arrears in wage payments and rather than concede, the management closed the theatre. By this time owned by Percy Josephson, it became a warehouse for W. and A. McArthur, Ltd. and was demolished in 1927. [4] Construction on the Grace Building started at the site in 1928.
Some successes were: [5]
Fayette, a new opera due to open on 17 February 1900, [6] never opened.
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