Cottrill Opera House
264 E. State Highway 32,
Thomas,
WV
26292
264 E. State Highway 32,
Thomas,
WV
26292
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Additional Info
Architects: E.C.S. Holmboe, Robert C. Lafferty
Firms: Holmboe & Lafferty
Styles: Renaissance Revival
Previous Names: Sutton`s Opera House, Sutton Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Cottrill Opera House was built circa 1902 for vaudeville and not opera. The theatre auditorium is upstairs on the second floor. The ground floor is in retail use. In the 1920’s, the building was sold to the Sutton family and its name was changed to the Sutton Theatre. As the Sutton Theatre, movies were shown here.
A Wurlitzer theatre organ opus 1840 style "B" special was installed in February of 1928. The Cottrill Opera House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The building was being restored for use as a live performance theatre.
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Recent comments (view all 5 comments)
Here is an item from Boxoffice magazine in June 1962:
THOMAS, W. VA.-Mrs. Cathryn Sutton, for many years operator of the Sutton Theater here, has leased the theater to Roger Bonner, current theater projectionist, effective August 1. Mrs. Sutton is moving to California.
E.C.S. Holmboe and Robert C. Lafferty of the Clarksburg architectural firm Holmboe & Rafferty designed the Cottrill Opera House.
Just posted a 1934 poster for the Sutton Theatre. Spelling should be changed from “Theater” to “Theatre” in the Overview description.
Address is 264 E, State Hwy 32, Thomas, WV 26292. I seriously don’t think it’s being used in any sort of preforming arts capacity. Retail.
Cotrill’s Opera House is an upstairs theater. The ground floor of the building has always been configured for retail uses, but the auditorium is undergoing renovation for theatrical use, and has been since 1978. Since 1981 the project has been under the management of a non-profit organization called Alpine Heritage Preservation Incorporated, who own the building. It has been a very long process, as the town is small and has limited resources, but steady progress has been made.
The organization’s official web site has a history of the theater and the restoration project. There are also several historical photos on the site’s history page.