Idaho Springs Opera House
Mrs. Coddington owned a two-story brick double on the corner lot. It was occupied by W. K. Townsend (grocer) and Paul Lanius (hardware). Townsend imported glassware and crockery and was said to have the best selection of cigars in town. “Lets all rejoice- Paul Lanius and company have opened a general hardware store in the Coddington Block”, an 1881 newspaper proclaimed and promised that a full supply of “stoves, miners’ supplies, powder and fuses” would always be on hand.
In a small one-story addition was the “Palace of Sweets”, later the “Opera Confectionery”.
The Coddington Block burned in January 1989 and was demolished the following March to make way for Citizen’s Park.
S. J. Coddington owned the adjacent property to the west until 1912, when he agreed to sell it to a group of investors who called themselves “The Idaho Springs Opera House Association”. During the next two decades, the building was both a vaudeville and movie theatre. Eventually called the “Mines Theatre”, movies were shown here into the 1970’s. The ballroom was consumed by fire in the 1940’s.
The building has a masonry belt course beneath the second floor windows, a metal bracketed cornice and a vertically striated frieze, with decorated metal panels below. In 1994 it was refurbished by owners Bob Gibbs and Art Rosean.
1535 Miner Street in Idaho Springs, Colorado
