Property Record
109-117 E MAIN ST
Architecture and History Inventory
| Historic Name: | Mount Horeb Opera Block |
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| Other Name: | H&R Block, Venden's Inn, Bergey Jewelry |
| Contributing: | Yes |
| Reference Number: | 5640 |
| Location (Address): | 109-117 E MAIN ST |
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| County: | Dane |
| City: | Mount Horeb |
| Township/Village: | |
| Unincorporated Community: | |
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| Year Built: | 1895 |
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| Additions: | |
| Survey Date: | 19962017 |
| Historic Use: | opera house/concert hall |
| Architectural Style: | Queen Anne |
| Structural System: | Masonry |
| Wall Material: | Cream Brick |
| Architect: | Gordon and PAUNACK |
| Other Buildings On Site: | |
| Demolished?: | No |
| Demolished Date: |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Mt. Horeb Opera Block |
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| National Register Listing Date: | 2/23/1989 |
| State Register Listing Date: | 8/17/2018 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: | |
| National/State Register Listing Name: | Main Street Historic District |
| National Register Listing Date: | 3/5/2019 |
| National Register Multiple Property Name: |
| Additional Information: | A 'site file' exists for this property. It contains additional information such as correspondence, newspaper clippings, or historical information. It is a public record and may be viewed in person at the Wisconsin Historical Society, Division of Historic Preservation-Public History. Why did a small rural railroad and milk-processing town like Mount Horeb need an opera house? To accommodate dances, lectures, masquerades, concerts, political rallies, high-school commencements--in short, just about everything but opera itself. When a town was still young, community functions could usually be held in churches or in rental halls in the upper floors of commercial blocks. But as a town grew, as Mount Horeb did in the 1880s and 1890s, local businessmen often pooled their resources to build a larger downtown facility--in the parlance of the day, an “opera house.” 1986- "An outstanding Queen Anne commercial building, the Mount Horeb Opera House is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Designed by Madison architects Gordon and Paunack, it was built for the Mount Horeb Opera block Company and immediately became the community center with theater, dances, high school stpors and, later, silent movies. Notice the Queen Anne details, including a corner tower with conical roof, patterned brickwork and gabled dormers." "Mount Horeb Wisconsin: Historic Downtown Self-Guided Walking Tour", pamphlet, Mount Horeb Landmarks Foundation, 1986. The Mount Horeb Opera Block, built in 1895, shows an exuberant mixture of styles. The Queen Anne turret displays wooden shingles and classical detailing such as fluted pilasters, a column-and-arch motif, and a dentil course below the cornice. Romanesque Revival details include the arched entry lined with quarry-cut stone, a ribbon of round-arched windows on the second story, a corbeled cornice, a tiny arcade between the gabled wall-dormers, and checkerboard and diamond brickwork. The architects, J. O. Gordon and Fred Paunack, led one of Madison’s most prestigious architectural firms at the turn of the century. The owners of the Mount Horeb Opera Block rented out the first-floor retail spaces and the second- and third-story office spaces to local businesses. The opera hall itself occupied a two-story-tall space above the shops at the west end of the building. After the turn of the century, it hosted fewer performances, although it screened silent movies after 1907. When the opera house closed in 1922, the hall became home to the Masonic Lodge and the related women’s group, the Order of the Eastern Star. |
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| Bibliographic References: | FOREST JOHNSON, MT. HOREB CENTENNIAL BOOK. Miller, Elizabeth L. Mount Horeb, Wisconsin: An Intensive Survey of the Historic Resources of the Commercially-Zoned Downtown. Mount Horeb: Mount Horeb Chamber of Commerce, 1997. Buildings of Wisconsin manuscript. |
| Wisconsin Architecture and History Inventory, State Historic Preservation Office, Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, Wisconsin |