Opera house as wealthy patrons and it continues to have a large number of working opera houses such as Teatro Massimo in Palermo (the biggest in Italy), Teatro di San Carlo in Naples (the world's oldest working opera house) and Teatro La Scala in Milan. In contrast, there was no opera house in London when Henry Purcell was composing and the first opera house in Germany was built in Hamburg in 1678. In the 17th and 18th centuries, opera houses were often financed by rulers, nobles, and wealthy people who used patronage of the arts to endorse their political ambition and social
Batcher Opera House Block more than a year until it was clear that another new building in town, raised by the local Odd Fellows, would not include an opera house. Batcher then decided to include an opera house and restarted construction in the spring of 1907, adding a third story to the design. Yet another new building in town, by Thomas J. Sharkey, did add an opera house, which opened as Sharkey's Opera House at about the same time as the Batcher Opera House opened. Batcher's Opera House was the more influential of the two, and though Sharkey's continued as an entertainment venue, it