Lyceum Opera House/Lyceum Theater

Multi-Family Construction: ; 
Roof of Main Structure: Non-combustible; 
Additional Sections: Section 1, back (E), 1 story 4 stories high, non-combustible roof, "Lyceum Opera Ho." (house), "V.P. 50' 2 1/2 hose balcony & gallery", iron staircase left (N) wall, "asbestos curtain" right (S) wall, fire escape on back (E) wall / Section 2, right of Section 1 (S), 1 story 4 stories high, non-combustible roof, "Stage", two "V.P. 50' 2 1/2", horizontal bricked steam boiler, Sanborn 1910 numbers as #108 E Green St and #110 E Green St; 
Porches: Porch 1, front (W), 1 story, wood frame, non-combustible roof; 
Outbuildings: ; 
Other: Entrance on S Cayuga St treated as the Main Structure;

"Wreckers began today to demolish the Lyceum Theater. 

No decision has been announced by the Cornell Theaters Inc., owners of the theater, as to future use of the location. Schooley Baker of Brooktondale are the wrecking contractors. 

Many Ithacans will be saddened by the passing of the Lyceum, for 40 years a city landmark. The opening night Thursday, Oct. 26, 1893, presented ‘in the boxes, the many loges and the auditorium of the new theater such an array of beauty, dress and display as has never before been seen in the city at any theatrical event.’ All of the 1,125 seats were filled with concert goers more eager to see for themselves the widely acclaimed interior than to listen to the Tavary Grand Opera Company’s ‘Il Trovatore.’ M. M. Gutstadt managed the playhouse from its erection until 1925 when the interests bought it, except for the period from 1910 to 1913 when the Lyceum was under the management of the Shuberts of New York. Until 1893 the Wilgus Opera House at the corner of Tioga and State Streets, where Rothschild Brothers now stands, divided with Library Hall in the Cornell Library the Building theatrical attractions and lectures.

Movies No Novelty 

When movies were shown in the Lyceum toward the end of its career, the change was no novelty for the showing of pictures there was a commonplace 25 years ago. In 1897 a veriscope of the Corbett Fitzsimmons battle was billed there. 

‘The dream of a new opera house has at least been realized,’ says the Ithaca Daily Journal of Oct. 27, 1893. ‘That you are really in it and it is so much more than you expected, you fear, lest you are dreaming, or that you are not in Ithaca.’ Officers of the Lyceum Company were E. M. Treman, president; C. H. White, vicep resident; B. J. Jervis, secretary, and Fred J. Whiton, treasurer. Architect was Leon H. Lempert & Son of Rochester, who designed the building with a Renaissance exterior and an interior described on the opening night as ‘mainly Romanseque.’ Original members of the company under whose supervision the theater was built were: 

George H. Baker. F. W. Brooks, R. A. Crozier, H. E. Dann, William B. Estabrook, John Fury, N. S. Hawkins, B. F. Jervis, John M. Jamieson, L. R. King, Levi Kenny, F. W. Phillips, Robert Reed, L. L. Treman, Elias Treman, E. M. Treman, R. H. Treman, C. E. Treman, S. B. Turner, M. Van Cleef, R. S. Williams, C. M. Williams, George R. Williams, DeF. Williams, S. H. Winton, F. J. Whiton, C. H. White and R. Wolf. 

‘Who's Who' of Stage 

Any account of the actors who appeared on the Lyceum stage sounds like ‘Who's Who’ of the American stage during the era when the ‘road’ was virile and the movies not yet all powerful. ‘The Black Crook’ was among the earliest attractions, as was ‘Charley's Aunt’ which proved a hardy perennial. Among the plays which came back again and again were ‘Shore Acres.’ ‘In Old Kentucky’ and of course ‘Uncle Tom's Cabin.’ The first record of its appearance in the new playhouse is in 1894, the last on Jan. 12, 1923.

All the famous Shakespearean actors came here: most of them returning many times—Julia Marlowe, Richard Mansfield, E. H. Sothern, Modjeska, Robert Mantell, Sir Henry Irving, John Barrymore, Sarah Bernhardt. Here are a few of the other stage personages: Otis Skinner, Richard Golden, John Drew, Joseph Jefferson, Lillian Russell, James O'Neill. Della Fox, Mrs. Fiske, Marie Dressler, Ethel Barrymore, Rose Coghlan, Maude Adams, Grace George, William Faversham, Henrietta Crosman, Mrs. Langtry, Paul Gilmore, Mrs. Patrick Campbell, Eva Tanguay, William Gillette, Nat Goodwin, Fritzi Scheff, Edna May, Peter F. Dailey, Nance O'Neil, Cyril Scott, Elsie Janis, George M. Cohan, Eddie Foy, Raymond Hitchcock, Anna Held, Billie Burke, Elsie Ferguson, Ruth Chatterton, Pavlowa, Al Jolson, Blanche Bates, Cyril Maude, Fred Stone, Patricia Collinge, Walter Hampden, George Arliss. Laura Hope Crews, Ed Wynn, Jane Cowl, Lou Tellegen, Henry Miller, Irene Castle, Sir Harry Lauder, Alice Brady, Margaret Anglin, Ruth St. Denis, May Robson, Evelyn Nesbit, Chauncey Olcott and David Warfield. 

One of the first engagements in the new theater, Nov. 5, 1893, was a prohibition meeting. Political forums were frequently held there, speakers including Charles Evans Hughes, Theodore Roosevelt, William H. Taft, and Chauncey Depew. Robert G. Ingersoll lectured there twice, once on Shakespeare and once on ‘How To Reform Mankind.’ Cornell clubs used the regularly, and generations of high school seniors graduated from its stage