Archives and Special Collections
92 Snell Library
360 Huntington Ave.
Boston, MA 02115
(617) 373-2351
archives@neu.edu

Archives and Special Collections Finding Aids

Printable Finding Aid. Back to Browsing Version.

Collection Overview
Title:Boston Opera House records
Dates:1908-1958
Location:70/3
Call Number:M33
Volume:0.50 cubic ft. (3 boxes)
Scope and Content Note:The records of the Boston Opera House document a Boston cultural landmark. The collection contains items that were placed in the Opera House's bronze cornerstone in 1908. Newspaper clippings document the history of the building and its subsequent demise. The collection also contains slides and photographs of the building during its demolition. Programs from Metropolitan Opera performances at the Boston Opera House highlight the visiting opera companies of the 1940s and 1950s. A brick from the Boston Opera House, which was rescued from the demolition in 1958, is also included.
Historical Abstract:The Boston Opera House (BOH) was the local citadel for lyrical drama for nearly 50 years. It cost Eben D. Jordan $700,000 to build in 1909. Most contemporary singers of note, including Enrico Caruso and Kirsten Flagstad, sang on the Opera House stage. In September 1957, the Boston City Building Department declared the BOH unsafe, and it was sold three weeks later by the Opera Holding Company to the S. & A. Allen Construction Company for $135,000. The Charlestown-based construction company then sold the Huntington Avenue property to Carl S. Ell, President of Northeastern, for $160,000. The building, directly across the street from the university, was razed in the summer of 1958 to provide space for campus expansion.
Arrangement:Arranged in one alphabetical sequence.
Subjects and Contributors:
  • Boston Opera Company.
  • Metropolitan Opera Company.

  • Boston Opera House.
  • Theaters--Massachusetts--Boston.
Restrictions:The collection is unrestricted.
Processor:Finding aid prepared by Ken Risley, February 1999

Historical Note

The Boston Opera House was the local citadel for lyrical drama for nearly 50 years.  It cost the late Eben D. Jordan $700,000 to build in 1909  Most contemporary singers of note, including Enrico Caruso and Kirsten Flagstad, sang on the Opera House stage.  In September 1957, the Boston City Building Department declared the Boston Opera House unsafe, and it was sold three weeks later by the Opera Holding Company to the S. & A. Allen Construction Company for $135,000.  The Charlestown-based construction company then sold the Huntington Avenue property to Carl S. Ell, President of Northeastern, for $160,000.  The building, directly across the street from the University, was razed in the summer of 1958 to provide space for campus expansion.

Eben D. Jordan, President of the Boston Opera Company, set the granite cornerstone of Boston's home for grand opera on November 30, 1908.  The ceremony was followed by the depositing, beneath the surface, of a hermetically sealed bronze box.  The box contained books and programs documenting the musical activities of the day.  The cornerstone also contained phonographic records and contemporary operatic periodicals.

The Boston Opera House opened on the night of November 8, 1909 with a performance of Ponchielli's "La Giaconda."  The Boston Globe called the Boston Opera House "the best equipped temple of music in America."  Plans were to offer grand opera there for 15 weeks each year at prices ranging from 75 cents to 3 dollars.

Henry Russell ran the Boston Opera Company until the outbreak of the first World War, less than five years later.  There was an opera-less interim from March, 1914 to November 15, 1915, when Max Rubinoff's new Boston Grand Opera Company began with Montemezzi's "The Love of Three Kings."

For years the Boston Opera House was the local showcase of companies on tour, most notably New York's Metropolitan Opera, the Chicago Opera Company, and the Chicago Civic Opera.  The tours stopped during the Great Depression, from 1932-1933, but the Metropolitan resumed their Boston weeks in 1934.  With the exception of the wartime season of 1943, the Metropolitan Opera performed at the BOH every year until 1957.

In September of 1957 the building's foundations and steelwork were found to be in poor condition and the falling exterior terra cotta brickwork caused complaints from the Boston Buildings Commissioner.  Upon receiving the news, the Opera Holding Company, a subsidiary of the J. J. Schubert Theater Company in New York, sold the landmark to the S. & A. Allen Construction Company of Charlestown for $135,000.  Allen then transferred the structure to President Carl S. Ell of Northeastern on September 25, 1957, for $160,000.  The Bernard L. Baker Wrecking Company began razing the BOH in early 1958, and by mid-summer the building had been demolished. 
Bibliography

The Musical Leader and Concert Goer 16, no. 22 (November, 1908):18.  M33, Box 2.

Boston Globe. September [4,25,26], 1957.  M33, Box 1, Folder 4.

Durgin, Cyrus.  "Boston: Operapathy on-the-Charles."  Boston Globe, Theatre Arts (January, 1958): 72-73, 92. M33, Box 1, Folder 4.

Northeastern University News 30, no. 20 (March 7, 1958): 1. M33, Box 1, Folder 4.
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BoxTitleDate
1Boston Opera Company, Prospectus for School of the Grand Opera1908
3Brick1958
1Contractor's Calling Card1908
1Cornerstone Box, Contents List1908
2Musical Leader and Concert Goer 16, No. 22 (November 1908)1908
1Newspaper Clippings1957-1958
Programs
1Metropolitan Opera (5 folders)1916, 1941-1957
1New England Opera Theater1950-1951
2Photographsn.d.
2Seating Chartsn.d.
2Slides1957