Wealthy cattleman John H. Ming opened Helena's first opera house in this building on September 2, 1880, featuring Katie Putnam in a production entitled "Old Curiosity Shop." Ming's Opera house offered audiences a vast selection of entertainment including minstrels, comedies, dramas, hypnotists, magicians, opera, musicals, romances, burlesque, bands, Shakespeare, melodramas, and vaudeville. After John Ming passed away in 1888 the Ming family, primarily James L. Ming, operated the theatre until 1898, when it was purchased by Eugene T. Wilson, receiver of the First National Bank of Helena, as settlement of the Ming mortgage held by the bank. Ming's Opera House was sold in April 1901 for $15,000 to John Cort of Seattle. In 1902, the theater was managed by Fred W. Gatz as the Helena Theater and continued in operation until some time between 1910 and 1912.
In 1912 the building was purchased by the Masons and renovated to become the Shrine Consistory Temple. The date stone on the new Egyptian Revival façade reads 1915. The Masons no longer use the building and had, after much agonizing, put the building
up for sale in 2015.
Copper was once a common building material in Montana, primarily because mining it, along with a few other metals, was Montana's lifeblood industry in its early years. The doors on the building's main entrance are covered with pressed copper sheeting, each door divided into six panels, on which are embossed double headed eagles. The double-headed eagle is associated with the concept of Empire, but seems not to have played a part in Masonic symbology in general, though it was a feature of the Insignia of the Supreme Council, 33° of the Ancient and Accepted [Scottish] Rite.
Surrounding the doorway is a heavy granite frame with flower motifs, surmounted by a small flat Roman styled portico on ogee brackets. The doorway is recessed behind very large three storey fluted Doric pillars, also of granite. The style, as a whole, is an incarnation of Egyptian Revival architecture designed by architects George Carsley and C. S. Haire.
MING OPERA HOUSE
CONSISTORY SHRINE
Masons have been a dynamic force in Montana since early territorial days, playing key roles in events that shaped the state's history. Helena Masons first came together in 1865 for the funeral of Dr. L. Rodney Pococke, for whom Rodney Street was named. The fraternal organization has since been closely intertwined with the Helena community. The Masons acquired this former opera house in 1912.
Built by John Ming in 1880 and renowned throughout the Pacific Northwest, the theater hosted such famous performers as Otis Skinner, Eddie Foy, Marie Dressler and Katie Putnam. In 1915 noted Helena architects George Carsley and C.S. Haire redesigned the building in the exotic Egyptian Revival style. Under the Masons' care, the original hand painted 1880s scenery remains in occasional use, as does the spectacular $10,000 pipe organ they installed in the remodeled auditorium in 1915. This Helena landmark survives thanks to the careful stewardship of its owners and continues to serve as a meeting place for members of all the Masonic orders.
From the NRHP plaque at the building