Burlew Opera House
230 Capitol Street,
Charleston,
WV
25301
230 Capitol Street,
Charleston,
WV
25301
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Built in 1891 it opened on October 31, 1891 as a vaudeville house. It was screening movies by 1914 when it was listed in the American Motion Picture Directory as the Opera House, located at George Street and Liberty Street. It was demolished around 1922.
Contributed by
Nessa
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
The 1900-1901 Cahn guide lists the Burlew Opera House as a ground floor theater with a large stage, 41 feet from footlights to back wall and 65 feet between side walls. It doesn’t give a breakdown of seating capacities between orchestra, balcony, gallery and boxes.
Multiple sources indicate that the house opened on October 31, 1891. It was designed by Lexington, Kentucky architect Herman L. Rowe (a number of sources mistakenly give his name as H. L. Lowe or H. B. Rowe, but architect Herman L. Rowe is actually listed in the 1891 Lexington City Directory.) In the mid-1880s, Rowe acted as supervising architect for the Lexington Opera House, designed by Oscar Cobb, which likely proved a very useful experience when he came to design the Burlew.
The Burlew was razed in 1921 or 1922, and its bricks were used in the construction of the department store that replaced it. That building is still standing, occupied by a collection of small shops.
Thank you Joe for this interesting information. I happened to come across the program at an estate sale and had never heard of the place!