Many among the Grand’s staff would argue that efforts to protect the venue were a collaboration between determined citizens and a few otherworldly inhabitants its executive director even wrote an article describing the phenomena for Out and About of Greater Wilmington. The Grand was rededicated two years later, in what prominent Delaware historian Carol Hoffecker described as “the most spectacularly successful preservation effort in Wilmington’s history.” Excited citizens flooded in and plans for its renovation were unveiled. Just before Christmas 1971, for its hundredth anniversary, the Grand Opera House reopened its doors. “To destroy it would be a crime, to restore it would be a triumph,” trumpeted one news anchor. Prominent citizens of Wilmington wouldn’t have it. In the early twentieth century it became a movie theater, but as the decades wore on and competing venues started eclipsing it in sales, it was forced to close in 1967. (For example, there are five sections to the facade, each with three arches and three keystones.) Though ownership has changed hands, the Masons still have offices in the building.Īs a performing arts center, The Grand has hosted thousands of entertainers, from vaudeville shows to world-class symphonies. The entire facade is created from cast iron that was painted white, to imitate marble, while the architecture references the numbers 3, 5, and 7, all significant in Masonic symbolism. It was originally a temple for the Grand Lodge of the Masons-hence the Masons’ imagery that still adorn its exterior, and the Eye of Providence at its center. For almost 150 years, the Grand Opera House has stood as a landmark and a source of both nightlife and pride for the people of Wilmington, Delaware.
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