Piper’s Opera House

July 8, 1940. Piper’s Opera House - the cultural center of Virginia City. It was home to musicals, plays, melodrama, orchestras, Shakespeare, fancy balls, and some of the biggest stars of the time. This building is actually the third Piper’s Opera House, even though it’s a weird hybrid of old and new parts. This front part is an old office building that dates back to the 1860s. John Piper bought this building at the corner of B and Union Streets and turned it into a saloon. A few years later he bought a theater in another part of town, christening it Piper’s Opera House. The first theater burnt down in the Great Fire of 1875, but his saloon survived. Piper quickly built a second theater, this time right behind the saloon. The second Piper’s Opera House opened in 1878, but it was just as doomed at the first. Five years after opening it too burnt down, once again leaving only the saloon.

John Piper was ready to give up, but after a little persuasion from friends and family he built a third opera house, again right behind the saloon. The third time really was the charm for John Piper, since that 1885 building is still standing today.

As the mines dried up and the population fell, so did the need for a large cultural venue. Piper’s Opera House closed in 1924, and when Charles Cushman visited in 1940 it was forgotten and falling apart.

November 8, 1952. Twelve years later Cushman came back and visited Piper’s again. Very little has changed. The signs have been taken down, and things look a little worse. Even the shade tree is gone.

September 29, 1962. Cushman must have had a soft spot for the old opera house. It's the only building he photographed on all three of his visits to Viginia City.

Another ten years, and still nothing has changed. At this point the building is over a hundred years old. That fellow is standing out front, defying the building to collapse. The building refuses to humor him.

June 19, 2004. In the late 1960s, John Piper’s great granddaughter started to renovate the opera house. It was slow at first, but eventually the old theater was open and hosting events again. In the 1990s more money started flowing in and the renovation really took off. It’s a huge job; the old building has deteriorated a lot, and a lot of structural and cosmetic work still remains.

The old saloon building in front has now stood for over 140 years. The actual theater, the barn in the back, is a little younger at 120. But even at this age, after a few dark decades, Piper’s Opera House is once again hosting music and Shakespeare on its stage.