This structure, on the northwest corner of Richmond and York Streets opposite the Tecumseh House Hotel, was built by Ellis W. Hyman and opened in May, 1866, as the Music Hall. The theatre had a seating capacity of about 580, while the ground floor housed five offices. In 1873 George Holman, founder of the internationally renowned Holman Opera Company, acquired this block and renamed it the Holman Opera House. The building was demolished in 1881 and is now the site of the New Yorker Cinema. This photograph by Joseph Garner also portrays the dirt streets, wooden sidewalks, telegraph poles, hitching posts and gas lamps that were typical of the period.
Courtesy: Regional Collection, The D.B. Weldon Library, University of Western Ontario
