Finke Opera House, also known as the Ritz Theatre, is a historic

opera house An opera house is a theater building used for performances of opera. Like many theaters, it usually includes a stage, an orchestra pit, audience seating, backstage facilities for costumes and building sets, as well as offices for the institut ...

located at

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Moniteau County, Missouri Moniteau County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Missouri. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 15,473. Its county seat is California. The county was organized February 14, 1845, and named for the Moniteau Creek ...

. It was built in 1885, and is a two-story, eclectic

Late Victorian Victorian architecture is a series of architectural revival styles in the mid-to-late 19th century. ''Victorian'' refers to the reign of Queen Victoria (1837–1901), called the Victorian era, during which period the styles known as Victorian we ...

style brick building. The building features decorative brickwork banding and segmental window arches with stone accents. It was built as a multi-use facility and now used as a community

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

/ meeting hall. (includes 12 photographs from 2003) It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 2004.

References

Theatres on the National Register of Historic Places in Missouri Victorian architecture in Missouri Theatres completed in 1885 Buildings and structures in Moniteau County, Missouri National Register of Historic Places in Moniteau County, Missouri 1885 establishments in Missouri {{MoniteauCountyMO-NRHP-stub