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Overview

Squire's Opera House, one of Seattle's earliest performing arts venues, operated for only about three years, before closing. It became the Brunswick Hotel #1 in 1882, and functioned as a hotel until it was burned in the Great Seattle Fire of 1889.

Building History

Recent arrival to Seattle, Watson Carvasso Squire (1838-1929), who would later develop a successful political career as Washington's 12th Territorial Governor (1884-1887) and one of the state's first US Senators (1889-1897), bankrolled the construction of Squire's Opera House, opened in 11/1879. Squire's had by far the largest stage--approximately 1,200 square feet--and the biggest seating capacity--584 patrons--in Seattle at the time. Its closure removed a venue for "legitimate" stage and musical acts, until the opening of an even larger performance hall, Frye's Opera Hall, in 1884.

In 1882, Squire's Opera House was remodeled into the Hotel Brunswick #1.

A.E. Alden managed the Hotel Brunswick #1 in 08/1884. Rooms cost between $1.50 and $3 per day at the time. (See Hotel Brunswick #1 classified advertisement, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, vol. VI, no. 107, 08/14/1884, p. 1.)

Hotelier Leonard Diller (1839-1901) purchased this 56-room hotel in 1885, and operated it until it burned in the Seattle Fire of 06/06/1889. It contained one of the first electric elevators in the city. Diller also owned the Esmond Hotel during the mid-1880s. (See City of Seattle, Department of Neighborhoods.gov, "Seattle Historic Sites Summary for 1216 1st AVE / Parcel ID 1974700170," accessed 10/25/2016.)

After the fire in 1890, Diller operated the Hotel Diller at 1222 Front (later renamed 1st Avenue). (See Polk’s Seattle Directory Company’s Seattle City Directory, 1890, p. 808.)

Building Notes

This wood framed, three-story building stood across Front Street (later renamed First Avenue) from the New England Hotel in 1881. Early Seattle theatre historian Howard F. Grant reported that a story on the opening of Squire's Opera House appeared in the Puget Sound Dispatch on 11/24/1879: "Squire's Opera House is finished and now ready to be delivered to the proprietor. Mr. Bigelow, the contractor and builder, deserves great credit for the skill, care and attention he has devoted to the work. The building has a front on 90 feet of Commercial St., is 80 feet deep, and three stories high. On either side of the main entrance there are two rooms 80 x 20 feet handsomely finished for stores. The second story front is divided into suites of rooms for offices and in the third story in front of the theater is a fine large hall suitable for a lodge or lecture room. The theater is both tasty and comfortable. It is 90 x 48 feet wide and 28 feet high. The stage is nice and roomy being 48 x 25 feet giving plenty of room for any piece that might be produced. The comfort and convenience of the performers has been considered in the erection of two nice dressing rooms for their accommodation. The seating capacity is about 584; 182 front chairs, 182 bench settings, 208 in the gallery and room for 12 seatrs in the stage boxes. Everything about the building inside and out exhibits rare taste in design and great skill in execution; not among the least noticeable features is the painting which was executed by T.H. Stringhame."

Grant added: "an advertisement in the same paper for the opening night quotes the admission prices as 50 cents for the dress circle and 25 cents for the raised seats, which indicates the floor was built on an incline." (See Howard F. Grant, in The Story of Seattle's Early Theatres, [Seattle: University Book Store, 1934], p. 21.)

The Hotel Brunswick also had the Brunswick Restaurant operating in the building in 1887. It was operated by Adam Cannon in 1887, and was located on the east side of Commercial Street between Washington and Main. (See R.L. Polk and Company's Puget Sound Directory, 1887, p. 223.) A year later, it was located at 218 Commercial Street, and H.W. Fletcher was the proprietor. (See R.L. Polk and Company's Seattle Directory, 1888, p. 38.)

Alteration

Ahead of its time, Squire's Opera House existed before the completion of long-distance rail lines into the Pacific Northwest in 1883, limiting the number of traveling performers that could reach the area. Squire's closed soon after it opened, and the building was rebuilt radically to become the Brunswick Hotel in 09/1882.

Demolition

Squire's Opera House/Hotel Brunswick #1 burned in the Seattle Fire of 06/06/1889.

PCAD id: 15514