Opera House

Ripon Opera House stands in the centre of Ripon, a small city in North Yorkshire. The building began in 1834 as the Public Rooms, a place for lectures and concerts. In 1886 a larger hall called Victoria Hall was built behind it, designed by George Mallinson. The new hall cost £2,000 and had richer decoration than the older rooms. Around 1912 the hall became the Opera House cinema, though live shows still took place. It seated 800 people across two levels before closing in about 1960. After the cinema closed the building had other uses. The hall became a factory and the Public Rooms turned into government offices. A fire destroyed the factory around 1980, and the offices later became the Sigma Antiques shop. Only the original structure survived these changes, leaving the whitewashed brick façade with its slate roof intact. Visitors today see a grade II listed building with two storeys and five bays. Three round arches mark the centre, the middle one holding a doorway and the others windows. Sash windows line the sides, and a three-storey extension on the right has a recessed doorway with a fanlight above. The clean lines and careful detailing show the work of George Mallinson from the 19th century.