Baker Building

Last updated
Baker Building
Baker Rear Dover NJ.JPG
Rear of the building
Location map of Morris County, New Jersey.svg
Red pog.svg
USA New Jersey location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Usa edcp location map.svg
Red pog.svg
Location16 W. Blackwell Street, Dover, New Jersey
Coordinates 40°53′2″N74°33′35″W / 40.88389°N 74.55972°W / 40.88389; -74.55972
Built1884
NRHP reference No. 81000396 [1]
NJRHP No.2107 [2]
Significant dates
Added to NRHPJuly 1, 1981
Designated NJRHPMay 22, 1981

The Baker Building, also known as Baker's Opera House, in Dover, Morris County, New Jersey, United States, is a historic theater built of brick in the mid-1880s. Built in the Eclectic style, it has three stories plus a tower. On the north side facing Blackwell Street, there are recessed brick panels, granite lintels and window sills, and a granite panel reading "Baker Building." A Mail Pouch Tobacco sign covers the south side of the building. [3]

The "Opera House" was built by William Henry Baker as a vaudeville theater. The grand opening was on April 5, 1886, with the Alfa Norman English Opera Company performing The Bobetuian Girl. On April 6 the same company performed The Mikado . Tickets cost $1.00 to $1.50. Later fare included other Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas, magic shows and minstrel shows featuring Arthur Deming. In 1906 the theater was thoroughly reconstructed and started showing silent films along with vaudeville performances after it reopened on December 5, 1906. [3] [4]

The renovation cost $75,000 and included many plaster ornaments and friezes. Movies started at 7 P.M. with five vaudeville acts started at 8 P.M. with both shows accompanied by a seven piece orchestra. After W. H. Baker died in 1910 his son Henry O. Baker took over the business closing it for another reconstruction and fireproofing in 1924. It reopened with 1,600 seats on December 22, 1924. Stanley Fabian later took over the theater, which showed its first talking picture, On Trial on March 18, 1929. [4]

Stars who have visited the theater or appeared on the stage include Al St. John, Buster Keaton, Pearl White, DeWolf Hopper, Helen Hayes, Lillian Russell, Ethel Barrymore and Abbott and Costello. [4]

The building was nearly demolished in 1977 before its purchase by the Morris County Trust for Historic Preservation. It was then listed on the New Jersey registry of historic sites and in 1981 on the National Register of Historic Places for its significance in architecture, commerce, and theater. [3] [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Hopatcong station</span> NJ Transit rail station

Lake Hopatcong is a commuter railroad station for New Jersey Transit. The station, located in the community of Landing in Roxbury Township, Morris County, New Jersey, United States, serves trains for the Montclair-Boonton Line and Morristown Line at peak hours and on holiday weekends. Service from Lake Hopatcong provides to/from Hackettstown to New York Penn Station and Hoboken Terminal. The stop is located on the tracks below Landing Road next to the eponymous Lake Hopatcong. The station consists of one active and one abandoned side platform, along with a shelter on the active platform. There is no accessibility for handicapped persons under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Strand Theater (Lakewood, New Jersey)</span> United States historic place

The Strand Theater is a vaudeville theater located at 400 Clifton Avenue in Lakewood Township, Ocean County, New Jersey. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 22, 1982, for its significance in architecture, art, and theater.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grand Opera House (Wilmington, Delaware)</span> United States historic place

The Grand Opera House, also known as The Grand or Masonic Hall and Grand Theater, is a 1,208-seat theater for the performing arts in Wilmington, Delaware, United States. The four-story building was built in 1871 by the Delaware Grand Lodge of Masons to serve as a Masonic Temple and auditorium. The construction cost was $100,000. It was designed in Second Empire style by Baltimore architect Thomas Dixon and incorporates symbolism from Freemasonry into the cast-iron facade. Its central pediment contains an Eye of Providence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hudson County Courthouse</span> Beaux-Arts courthouse in Jersey City, USA

The Hudson County Courthouse or Justice William J. Brennan Jr. Courthouse is located in Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The six-story structure was originally built between 1906 and 1910 at a cost of $3,328,016.56. It is considered to be an outstanding example of the Beaux-Arts architectural style in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Folly Theater</span> United States historic place

The Standard Theatre, now known as the Folly Theater and also known as the Century Theater and Shubert's Missouri, is a former vaudeville hall in downtown Kansas City, Missouri. Built in 1900, it was designed by Kansas City architect Louis S. Curtiss. The theater was associated with the adjoining Edward Hotel, which was also designed by Curtiss; the hotel was demolished in 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rialto Theater (Casper, Wyoming)</span> United States historic place

The Rialto Theater in Casper, Wyoming was built as the New Lyric Theater in 1921. It was constructed with 800 seats by Henry Brennan who had a successful Vaudeville house, on which he based the new cinema. He almost immediately sold the building in 1922 to new owner E.J. Schulte who invested $50,000 in a remodeling project designed by Casper architects William Dubois and Leon Goodrich. The reopening in 1922 featured the William C. deMille movie Nice People, a silent film that was accompanied by the Chicago Netto Ladies Orchestra. In 1928 the Rialto began to show talkies.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">West End Hose Company Number 3</span> United States historic place

The West End Hose Company Number 3 is a historic two-story brick firehouse located at 15 North Doughty Avenue in the borough of Somerville in Somerset County, New Jersey, United States. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 17, 2002 for its significance in architecture and social history. The building is currently the Somerville Fire Department Museum operated by the Somerville Exempt Firemen's Association.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lambert Castle</span> Historic house in New Jersey, United States

Lambert Castle, originally called Belle Vista, is located within the Garret Mountain Reservation in Paterson, Passaic County, New Jersey. The building was built in 1892 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 3, 1976, for its significance in art, architecture, and industry.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morris County Courthouse (New Jersey)</span> United States historic place

Morris County Courthouse is located on Washington Street between Court Street and Western Avenue in the town of Morristown in Morris County, New Jersey. The courthouse was built in 1827 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 19, 1977, for its significance in architecture and politics/government. It was added as a contributing property of the Morristown Historic District on November 13, 1986.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mississippi Lofts and Adler Theatre</span> United States historic place

The Mississippi Lofts and Adler Theatre is an apartment building and theater complex located in downtown Davenport, Iowa, United States. It is individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places by its original name, the Hotel Mississippi and RKO Orpheum Theater. The Hotel Mississippi was listed on the Davenport Register of Historic Properties in 2005. In 2020 the complex was included as a contributing property in the Davenport Downtown Commercial Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Martha Ellen Auditorium</span> United States historic place

The Martha Ellen Auditorium, now the State Theatre, was built 1916 in Central City, the county seat of Merrick County in the state of Nebraska in the midwestern United States. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, as a well-preserved example of a Nebraska opera house.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mars Theatre</span> United States historic place

Mars Theatre is a historic theatre building at Lafayette, Tippecanoe County, Indiana. It was built in 1921, and is a four-story, rectangular, Georgian Revival style brick building, with limestone ornamentation and terra cotta panels. It measures 69 feet, 4 inches, wide and 141 feet, 4 inches deep. It was originally built as a vaudeville theater and sat 1,205 patrons. The building houses the Denis H. Long Center for the Performing Arts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Smith House (Washington Valley, New Jersey)</span> Historic house in New Jersey, United States

The John Smith House is a historic building located at 124 Washington Valley Road in the Washington Valley section of Morris Township, Morris County, New Jersey. The two-story brick house was built in 1812, with the year set in black brick on the west gable. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on January 1, 1976, for its significance in agriculture and architecture. It is also a contributing property of the Washington Valley Historic District.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bowerstown, New Jersey</span> Unincorporated community in New Jersey, United States

Bowerstown is an unincorporated community in Washington Township, Warren County, New Jersey near the Morris Canal and the Pohatcong Creek. It was founded in 1829 by Jesse Vanetta and Michael B. Bowers with the building of an iron foundry. The Bowerstown Historic District, encompassing the village, was listed on the state and national registers of historic places in 1996.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chester House Inn</span> United States historic place

The Chester House Inn, also known as the Chester Inn and the Brick Tavern, is a historic building at the corner of Main Street and Hillside Road in Chester Borough, Morris County, New Jersey. It was built from 1810 to 1812 by Zephaniah Drake. Known as the Chester House Hotel, it was documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS) in 1937. The inn was added to the National Register of Historic Places for its significance in architecture, commerce, and education on July 18, 1974.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Reading Farmstead</span> Historic house in New Jersey, United States

The John Reading Farmstead is a historic house located at 76 River Road by the South Branch Raritan River in Raritan Township, near Flemington in Hunterdon County, New Jersey. It was built in 1760 for John Reading, former governor of the Province of New Jersey, 1757–1758. The house was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 21, 1978, for its significance in agriculture, architecture, politics, and exploration/settlement.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Craft–Clausen House</span> Historic house in New Jersey, United States

The Craft–Clausen House is a historic stone house located at 170 Fairmont Road in Washington Township, Morris County, New Jersey. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 1, 1992, for its significance in architecture. The house is part of the Stone Houses and Outbuildings in Washington Township Multiple Property Submission (MPS).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morristown District</span> United States historic place

The Morristown District, also known as the Morristown Historic District, is a historic district in the town of Morristown in Morris County, New Jersey. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on October 30, 1973, for its significance in architecture, communications, education, military, politics, religion, social history, and transportation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Spring Brook House</span> United States historic place

The Spring Brook House is a historic brick building located at 161 James Street in the town of Morristown in Morris County, New Jersey. Part of the Morristown Multiple Resource Area (MRA), it was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 13, 1986, for its significance in architecture and commerce. The house is currently a retreat, the Loyola Jesuit Center in Morristown.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Blackwell Street Historic District</span> Area in Morris County, New Jersey, United States

The Blackwell Street Historic District is a 25-acre (10 ha) historic district along Blackwell, Dickerson, Sussex, Bergen, Essex, Morris, Warren, Prospect and Dewey streets in the town of Dover in Morris County, New Jersey. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 21, 1982, for its significance in architecture, commerce, education, performing arts, religion, and transportation.

References

  1. "National Register Information System  (#81000396)". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. November 2, 2013.
  2. "New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places – Morris County" (PDF). New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection - Historic Preservation Office. March 30, 2023. p. 4.
  3. 1 2 3 "A Tour of the Historic Dover Area" (PDF). Dover (New Jersey) Historical Society. Retrieved October 18, 2012.[ permanent dead link ]
  4. 1 2 3 "Baker Theatre in Dover". Cinema Treasures. Retrieved October 18, 2012.
  5. Thompson, Robert (February 1981). "National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Baker Building". National Park Service. With accompanying two photos