RESEARCH PROJECT

From 1993 to 1995 Janis Barlow undertook a research project on the Grand Opera House in her hometown of St. Catharines, Ontario. Initially, in 1993, she convened an archaeological design charrette to study the remnants of the former auditorium building of the St. Catharines Grand Opera House. Theatre architect Mandel Sprachman, theatre consultant Richard Smerdon, local architect Norman Macdonald and conservators, historians and architectural historians volunteered their time to examine the building and concluded that while it should be documented, it was not an ideal candidate for restoration.

Subsequently, Janis Barlow analyzed primary and secondary research on the Grand Opera House and generated a report that documented the archaeological, historical and architectural significance of the St. Catharines Grand Opera House.

With an opening date of September 1877, the Grand Opera House represented the oldest trace of a detached, graded ground floor, purpose-built nineteenth-century Academy of Music or Grand Opera House remaining in Canada. It was demolished in 1998.

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