Opera House
Saturday, July 8, 1882
The Decorative Arts
Newspaper reports
Newspaper advertisement
Opera House
Built: 1855-1858 (John Montague Trimble, architect)
Design: a multi-use building to house the town government, the library, and an auditorium known as Thalian Hall
Opened: April, 1858
Seating capacity: 1000 increasing to 1600
Name changed: 1867: the Opera House
Name changed: c. 1909: Academy of Music
Restored: 1973-75
Expanded: 1988-90
Today: a performing arts complex known again as Thalian Hall
Purcell House
Biographical Note
Charles Manly Stedman who dined with Wilde in Wilmington had served in the 44th North Carolina Infantry during the Civil War on the Confederate side, and was a 41 year-old lawyer when he met Wilde. He became a long-serving Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from North Carolina's 5th district, and carried his memories of Wilde well into the new century: he died in 1930, aged 89.
