HOLMAN OPERA HOUSE; RICHMOND AND YORK STREETS
Date1870s
Credit LineGift of Mr. William Robertson, London, Ontario, 1961
Object number1961.127.005
Label TextIn 1866, London tannery owner, Ellis W. Hyman, opened this Music Hall, the city’s first opera house. George Holman owned the property from 1873 to around 1881, renaming it the Holman Opera House. There, his famous family, known as the Holman Opera Troupe, performed when they were not touring. They were the first to present opera on a regular basis in Canada.
In 1873, George Holman leased and renovated the London Music Hall, then located on the northwest corner of York and Richmond streets. It opened in December of that year as the Holman Opera House. The theatre served as the Holman English Opera Company’s home base until they gave it up in 1881, the same year London’s lavish new Grand Opera House opened. Rather than competing against the larger, modern facility, the group appeared on its stage.
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