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GRAND OPERA HOUSE GRAND OPERA HOUSE In 1868, the notorious financier "Jubilee Jim" Fisk bought the Pike Opera House on West 23rd Street and spent $1 million to renovate the theater and install the corporate offices of the Erie Railroad in its upper floors. Renamed the Grand Opera House, the theater became a showcase for Fisk's mistress Josie Mansfield, and the extravagantly appointed offices provided a fitting backdrop for his reckless business practices. In 1872, when Fisk was shot to death by a Mansfield suitor, the theater was the site for his lavish funeral. Like many theaters of the Victorian era, the Grand Opera declined as the theater district moved north to Times Square. Performances by Edwin Booth, Julia Marlowe, Joseph Jefferson, and Lillie Langtry gave way to popular melodramas and movies. In 1938, R.K.O. bought the theater and remodeled it as an up-to-date movie house. It remained until 1960, when the site was cleared for Penn Station South Houses, a 2,820-unit cooperative built by the International Ladies' Garment Workers Union. The historical significance of the Grand Opera House was brought to Abbott's attention by the staff of the Museum of the City of New York (McQuaid, 383). She photographed it twice, first isolating the facade, and then from across the street. The close-up of the theater's classically ornamented marble facade adorned with statues of comedy and tragedy eliminates all traces of modern life. Returning a year later, Abbott photographed the opera house from across the street, to show the hotel next door (left) and the commercial storefronts and movie marquee that masked the theater's colonnaded first floor. She used two cameras for this view: an 8 x 10-inch and a 5 x 7-inch. The latter image included the neon signs of the modern drugstore and bowling alley (left); it was this version, with these added contemporary details, that she chose to print. Return to the Middle West Side |