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Lecture Tour of America 1882

Writing and Research on Oscar Wilde

Belleville

Ontario

City Hall (Theatre)

Tuesday, May 23, 1882

The Decorative Arts

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Verification

Newspaper report

The Belleville Daily Ontario, May 25, 1882, 3

Report of Wilde's lecture under the heading "The English Renaissance".

Quoted in Oscar Wilde in Canada, Kevin O'Brien, 1882

Newspaper advertisement

Oswego Morning Express, May 19, 1882

‍Venue

‍City Hall (theatre)

‍Front Street at McAnnay Street, Belleville, ON (now 169 Front Street between Macannay and Market Streets, )

‍

‍Built: 1872-73 as an administrative town hall and market (John D. Evans, architect)

‍Name changed: 1877 when Belleville became a city

‍Stage: was a movable platform on trusses

‍Seating capacity: 600 on wooden benches

‍Extant

Accommodation

Dafoe House

NE corner of Bridge and Pinnacle Streets, Belleville, ON (now 211 Pinnacle Street)

Built: 1847

Destroyed (fire): 1855 and rebuilt

Destroyed (fire): October 4, 1886

Replaced by: Hotel Quinte, 1895

Mostly destroyed (fire): January 5, 1907 and rebuilt

Reopened: February 27, 1908

Partially destroyed (fire): December, 2012 during renovations, and demolished

John Cooper on Oscar Wilde © 2026