Opera house Opera house An opera house is a theatre building used for opera performances that consists of a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, and backstage facilities for costumes and set building. While some venues are constructed specifically for operas, other opera houses are part of larger performing arts centers. Indeed the term "opera house" itself is often used as a term of prestige for any large performing-arts center. The first public opera house was the Teatro San Cassiano in Venice, opened in 1637. Italy is a country where opera has been popular through the centuries among ordinary people as well
DeGive's Opera House Hall, later destroyed in a fire in May, 1866. In 1893, DeGive opened the new, larger DeGive's Grand Opera House, which would later become Loew's Grand Theatre, at Peachtree and Forsyth. DeGive's was not the first opera house in Atlanta. The first shows performed in Atlanta predate the American Civil War and were primarily performed in makeshift facilities modified for the operatic arts. Reconstruction saw the formation of the Atlanta Opera House and Building Association. The association obtained the southwest corner of Marietta Street and Forsythe Street to construct a five-story opera house. By 1868, they were out of money.