Restoring historic opera house a labor of love

By Lynn Taylor Rick, Journal staff | Sunday, July 01, 2007

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It’s sprawling, in a vertical kind of way.

Built into the hillside on Lead Main Street, the Historic Lead Opera House appears to have endless nooks and crannies. And Opera House Society president Jacque Fuller seems to know them all.

Together with Opera House executive director Jim O’Grady, Fuller led a mid-morning tour last week of the building that she admits has become a kind of obsession.

“Even my husband sometimes reminds me that I have a life (outside the Opera House renovation),” she says, laughing.

Fuller sweeps through the Opera House’s women’s sitting room and restroom, now undergoing a minor renovation. She demonstrates the acoustics of the theater, standing on the stage and speaking in a normal voice that carries easily to the rear of the theater.

She walks across what once was a swimming pool, now capped and used as storage space. She strolls through the Blue Dog Gallery, one of several businesses that operate out of renovated space in the building.

Fuller points out this and that renovation project — a plaster re-creation here, a painting there — most done by volunteers. Fuller and O’Grady are on a mission to see the old building become a centerpiece of Lead once again.

“I really believe in historic preservation,” Fuller says. “I don’t think we can know where we’re going if we don’t know where we’ve been.”

The Opera House was built in 1914 at the urging of Phoebe Hearst, the wife of then- Homestake Mine owner George Hearst. Fuller says Phoebe Hearst wanted the citizens of Lead and the employees of her husband’s

mine to have access to culture and recreation.

In addition to the 1,000-seat theater, the Opera House included a library, a swimming pool, a billiards room, a gym, a six-lane bowling alley, a fencing room and even a pistol range. Eventually, it also housed the YMCA.

Until 1984, the Opera House continued to provide a place of culture and recreation for citizens of Lead, Fuller says. But in 1984, that all changed.

At about 3 p.m. April 2, 1984, a fire erupted near the theater’s stage. By about 7 p.m. that evening, the roof had collapsed.

Eventually, contractors placed a new roof over the building to prevent further damage, but nothing further was done to the building until 1997, when the Opera House Society formed and began its renovation work.

Fuller expects it will take about $4 million to complete the remaining renovation of the building, which houses a theater, businesses and meeting places.

Already, the Opera House Society has raised and spent about $2.5 million on renovations. 

The very first thing the society did after its formation was focus on one small    project. They wanted to demonstrate that the house could become a beautiful workable building once again. They chose the main floor women’s lounge and restroom, located across the hall from the theater.

“It was to show people and to give people hope. To show people it can be done,” Fuller says.

At that time, the theater floor was completely gone, sporting instead a gaping hole looking down into the swimming pool below.

Fuller remembers ushering people in to see the renovated sitting room, while the theater itself had to be blocked off.

Eventually, the society capped the pool below and built the floor to the theater.

In 2000, the society completed the renovation of the lobby and staircase.

Little by little, bit by bit, work has been completed. The theater box seats are framed in, but not finished. The theater stage itself is without lights or even a curtain, but there is a small, newly built dressing room for people who perform there.

A donation of theater seats had allowed the Opera House to present concerts and shows, but a lack of heat in the theater limits the theatrical season. Right now, the theater is mainly used from April to September.

O’Grady says the hope is to install a radiant floor heating system in the theater. That improvement alone would allow the Opera House to present  productions year-round, which would improve its fundraising abilities. The heating system will cost about $75,000.

They expect it to take about $2.9 million to complete the theater space alone, not including the heating.

Even in its fire-damaged state, the theater is an impressive room. The elegance, size and obvious history are what keep Fuller and O’Grady going, they say.

Right now, the society does whatever work it can with whatever funds they have at the moment. Most of the help is volunteer hours. It’s a slow and frustrating process.

“We need money. That’s the bottom line,” Fuller says.

Until they are able to raise the needed money, the society simply keeps working away on one small project at a time. It’s not the optimum way to renovate an old theater, but Fuller remains optimistic about the future of the Opera House, however long it may take.

“I personally hope it happens in my lifetime,” Fuller says. “It’s a labor of love.”

Contact Lynn Taylor Rick at 394-8414 or lynn.taylorrick@rapidcityjournal.com