The Town of Newport has completed one phase of work needed on its historic downtown Opera House, thanks in part to an LCHIP grant that helped pay for cleaning and repointing brickwork, repairing the main staircase, and replacing in-kind the maple floor in the theater upstairs.
Built in 1886 as a town hall and performance space, it thrived through the nineteen thirties and forties, fell onto hard times in the fifties and sixties, and was restored in the seventies. Into the twenty first century, the auditorium floor was replaced while the building was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The work included soundproofing to reduce noise disturbances to the Sullivan County Court, which occupies the first floor.
Photo: The historic Newport Town Hall and Courthouse is currently used as a performance center by the Newport Opera House Association and as the New Hampshire Sullivan County Superior Court.