| Built in 1889-90, the Grand Opera House is Mississippi’s largest, finest, and best-preserved example of a late 19th century opera house. It was used as an opera house and music hall until about 1920, when it was converted to a motion picture theater, but it closed in 1927, and was used for storage for most of the rest of the century, until its restoration in 2005 and re-opening in 2006 as part of the Mississippi State University Riley Center for Education and Performing Arts, which also includes the adjacent Marks, Rothenberg & Co. building. The Grand Opera House was individually listed on the National Register in 1972. In 1979 it was included as a contributing element (element #86) in the Meridian Urban Center Historic District, and it is now counted as a previously-listed element (element #82) in the Downtown Meridian Historic District, which superseded the earlier district when it was placed on the Register in 2007. The building was designated a Mississippi Landmark in 1991. The Grand Opera House is included in "Buildings of Mississippi" (2020) (pp. 215-216, as part of the listing for the Mississippi State University Riley Center for Education and Performing Arts, EM10). |