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BobTown #1 - Bank & Church
A LOT of our pictures/posts come from Burlington and our good friend Bob, so we've decided to let him loose on his favorite city and give him his own section of our blog... we'll call it BobTown. Most of the time it won't have anything to do with drag or gay stuff or even him... just stories about... BobTown. We get a lot of hits from all over the world - probably from people who want to know more about Vermont's Queen City*. Maybe they're future tourists or they're thinking about moving. You locals may learn something, too! Enjoy!!
I was cruising walking up Church Street after some Cinco de Mayoing when I noticed the lights were on in the empty retail space at the corner of Bank & Church Streets. I knew from the plaque on the building that it was the former Howard Opera House built in 1879... This is what Preservation Burlington has to say about it...
Built as an opulent opera house, the city's first performing arts center was financed by John Purple Howard, an innkeeper's son who amassed a fortune in Broadway Hotels. The ground floor has always housed a retail store. The somewhat restrained Italianate Renaissance style building has carved French horns and mask on the cornice, a reminder
of its original use.
For many years, until 1989 or so, the space was the four-floored Magram's Department Store. Subsequently it housed Chassman & Bem bookstore and then Urban Outfitters. For now, though, it's empty...
With a name like John Purple Howard, he had to be a queen. Looks like
Burlington just naturally attracts them.