The Opera House is a Grade II listed building in the Manchester local planning authority area, England. First listed on 3 October 1974. Theatre. 16 related planning applications.
The Opera House
- WRENN ID
- swift-lintel-elder
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Manchester
- Constituency
- Manchester Central MP: Lucy Powell (Lab)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 3 October 1974
- Type
- Theatre
- Address
- The Opera House, Quay Street, M3 3HP
- OS grid reference
- SJ 834 980
- Coordinates
- 53.47884, -2.25138
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Opera House, formerly known as The New Theatre, is a theatre that has been converted into an opera house. It was built in 1912 by architects Richardson and Gill, with Farquarson, and has undergone alterations since its construction. The building features a rectangular plan oriented at right angles to the street and is designed in a classical style.
The front block is three storeys high with an attic, displaying a symmetrical façade with a total of five bays, where the first and last bays are set back. The exterior is finished in stucco on brick with a slate roof. It has a plinth and banded rusticated stucco across all levels. The first and second floors are adorned with a giant order, featuring a five-bay centre flanked by engaged fluted Ionic columns. The first and fifth bays project forward, each showcasing a lettered pedestal at the base and a mask roundel at the top. The three pilastered bays on either side, along with the three central bays, include windows at the top with geometric glazing.
An entablature runs along the top, with a frieze inscribed with the words "THE PLAY MIRRORS LIFE" in the centre, and decorated in a Wedgwood style in the adjacent bays. A dentilled cornice encircles the building, culminating in a large semi-circular tympanum featuring allegorical reliefs. The entrance on the ground floor is five bays wide and is covered by a later 20th-century canopy.
Local climate
The Opera House sits in a wetter-than-average part of the UK, with an average of 1,060 mm of rain a year. This makes it wetter than 85% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 77% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 43 freeze-thaw cycles a year, more than 81% of listed buildings. Of these, 23 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
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- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- Related listed building consents — 16 applications
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
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