Reed Opera House Salem, Oregon

Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.

The Reed Opera House, as proposed for this nomination, consists of the following two structures: 1) the Reed Opera House, an Italianate business building of 1869-1870, designed by G.W. Rhodes, architect, for General Cyrus S. Reed; and 2) the McCornack Block addition, built as a furniture store in 1902 for E.P. McCornack, proprietor of the Reed Opera House and president of the First National Bank. The architect of this later addition has yet to be identified. Complementing these buildings as part of a newly developed shopping mall is the Montgomery Ward Building, a four-story "Colonial" department store of 1936, built for the Montgomery Ward Company of Chicago. The architect of the latter has yet to be identi­fied.

These three buildings have been joined together to provide a mall of specialty store and restaurants. An attempt has been made to maintain the original facade of each building above the first floor level. Exterior walls were cleaned by sand-blasting, and the exposure of the softer inner brick is already apparent in the Reed Opera House, in particular. The brick was later treated with silicon sealer.

The Reed Opera House Mall occupies Lots 1 and 2, Block 33 of the original plat of Salem, and this nomination encompasses Lot 1 and the north 20' of Lot 2. The property fronts on Liberty and Court Streets at the NE corner of the block. The site is in the heart of the downtown business district and is a focal point of the retail trade area. The recent redevelopment with private capital has done much to restore the vitality of the downtown business community. The core area has been enhanced in recent years by a fine tree-planting program. On lots behind the Montgomery Ward building, the southern­ most of the three buildings, on the opposite side of the alley bisecting the block, a large parking space was created after the removal of deteriorated nineteenth-century stores fronting on Commercial Street. A near entrance from the parking lot to the Mall has been developed which invites foot traffic and facilitates deliveries.

The Reed Opera House is a three-story building, measuring 57'xl64'. It has a base­ment and a 42x70' ell, of which the south 20x70' is one story. The foundation is stone; the walls brick masonry. There are interior iron supporting columns for the first floor and structural wood columns above; tie bars, and a roof truss system that extends over the western two-thirds of the structure. There are two large bays on either side of a central entrance bay on Liberty Street and seven large bays on Court Street. On the second and third floors there are three round-arched windows in each bay, with four lights over four in each double-hung sash. The stories are set off by three dentil belt courses. Rusticated pilasters between bays are based on paneled pedestals at each story. Within the larger bays, setting off tripartite window openings, are narrower paneled pilasters. Original ground story openings on Court Street were segmental-arched. The westernmost three bays on Court Street constituted the hotel portion of the building, which was com­pleted as an addition in 1870. The central entrance bay of the main facade on Liberty Street was originally surmounted by a false bracketed pediment with wheel window.

At some time prior to the introduction of electricity to Salem in 1889, the original balustrade consisting of turned balusters interspersed with brick posts was altered as a solid brick parapet. In time, the crowning pediment and the overhanging bracketed cornice were removed. The exterior had been painted repeatedly, and, before the most recent renovation, paint had lately covered even upper story windows. The interior of the Opera House originally consisted of seven stores on the ground level. On the Liberty Street end there were offices on the second and third floors, the latter being designed for use by the Oregon State Supreme Court and State Library. On the second floor, also, was the Opera House, with a 40x70' stage and 60x70' auditorium and semi-circular gallery, or dress circle under a 33' ceiling. Access to the Opera House and offices was via a staircase leading directly from the central round-arched portal on Liberty Street.

The hostelry in the westerly portion of the building was successively known as the Opera House Hotel, Tremont Hotel and Commercial Hotel. Initially, some of the Court Street store rooms served as the hotel's sitting room and dining room. The latter soon became the Opera House Saloon, later the Bureau Saloon. A wooden kitchen on the back was later replaced by the single-story brick structure on Lot 2. The original basement ex­tended 100' under the westerly portion of the building.

In 1900, the shop fronts and interior were redesigned by E.P. McCornack for a large store, Joseph Meyers & Sons. The first floor under the office portion and Opera House was converted into one room, and a mezzanine was added. The main entrance on Liberty became the main entrance to the store. A new stairway provided access to offices on the second floor and to a Masonic Lodge room on the third floor. The Opera House space was sacrificed. In time, the store expanded to all of the first floor and included the basement.

Adaptations of the building for the purposes of the recent redevelopment have included enlargement of the mezzanine and the insertion of a few structural posts. Removable interior partitions have been used for the individual store and in one area an interior stairs has been built to the basement. The truss system beneath the roof has been strengthened.

The McCornack Block addition on the south is a two-story structure measuring 42x98'. It has concrete foundation for the outer walls, a cement basement, and a wood joist system for the two floors and roof above. The second floor facade has a pressed yellow brick facing, with radiating voussoirs above the flat-arched rectangular window openings The original wooden cornice ultimately was replaced with a decorative tin frieze above a course of raised brick panels. A double brick belt course finishes the entablature and is echoed by a single course at the windowsill line. The store level, or first floor, was redesigned in the recent renovation with a flush wall surface, recessed en­ trances and display windows. The interior has two floors, a small mezzanine and a full basement. Two exterior stairs have been added by the present owners, one at the front on the north, and one at the back.