Finke Opera House - California, Missouri
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 38° 38.117 W 092° 33.928
15S E 537819 N 4276394
Also known as Ritz Theatre, address actually 315 N. High St.; The Finke Opera House is located on the southwest corner of North High Street and West Third Street in downtown California, Missouri, a block from the Moniteau County Courthouse Square.
Waymark Code: WMQWNF
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 04/07/2016
Views: 5
County of building: Moniteau County
Location of building: N. High St. & E. 3rd St., California
Phone: Phone:(573) 619-9939
"The Finke Opera House, also known as the Ritz Theater, is located at 312 [315] North High
Street on the southwest corner of North High Street and West Third Street in California,
Moniteau County, Missouri. The two-story, rectangular, brick building, constructed in 1885,
was built as a multi-use facility; its basement housed a billiard hall, its main floor and
balcony housed the opera house, and its second floor housed meeting rooms for fraternal
orders. The building, designed by Jerome B. Legg in the Late Victorian/Eclectic style,
features decorative brickwork banding and segmental window arches with stone accents.
The east and north facades are characterized by pilasters that separate the bays, with
four bays on the east facade and six bays on the north facade. The east facade features a
gable with a decorative sunburst detail. A canopy was added to the east facade sometime
before 1925. The building was remodeled in 1937 and given an Art Deco facade and a
street level entrance on the east, and a ten-foot addition to the first story and basement of
the west facade. The Art Deco facade has been partially removed, revealing part of the
original facade. The building retains significant integrity, and the owner, California
Progress, Inc., is in the process of restoring the building for use as a community
theater/meeting hall."
"Decorative brick banding below the gutter forms a cornice at the roofline. The original roof
was hipped, made of standing seam metal. The roof has been covered with asphalt
shingles; restoration plans call for replacement of the metal roof. The building originally
had ten highly decorative corbelled chimneys, spaced evenly five on the north side of the
building and five on the south. Sometime prior to 1925, according to a drawing of North
High Street published in 1925, a flat-roofed canopy was added over the main entrance on
the east facade." ~ NRHP Nomination Form