The Theater That Wanted the Street
Tacoma’s grand new opera house design sparks a city council debate over encroaching on public sidewalks and creating private carriage driveways.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A large force of men has been put to work on the opera house site, making excavation for the foundation. Plans for the building have been submitted to the city council for approval and consent as to certain encroachments on the street which they contemplate. The round tower which runs from the base to the top, at the corner of St. Helens and Ninth streets, stands out a little beyond the inner line of the sidewalk. Then, again, the entrance on St. Helens street is intended for a driveway. With the consent of the council, the pillars will be built in the center of St. Helens street, supporting an arch to the building so that carriages may drive under, their occupants alight and enter the theatre without having to pass from under cover—a very convenient arrangement for rainy weather. The council gives every indication of granting the concessions asked. It is stated as a further intention of the opera house company to take measures to have the little vacant triangle at the junction of St. Helens and Ninth streets immediately in front of the proposed building, purchased and beautified by the city as a grass plot.
“With the consent of the council, the pillars will be built in the center of St. Helens street, supporting an arch to the building so that carriages may drive under.”
The 1888 battle over public right-of-way and private development feels strikingly modern in Seattle. Just as 19th-century Tacoma debated if an opera house could claim public street space for private carriages, contemporary Seattle continues to grapple with how much of the public realm should be ceded to private developers for the sake of 'convenience' and architectural vanity.
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