ARCHITECT ATLAS
Loading atlas
Haskell Free Library and Opera House

Haskell Free Library and Opera House

James Ball

Photo: Thomsonmg2000 · CC0 · Wikimedia Commons

Location
Derby Line, United States
Client / Owner
Martha M. Haskell
Year
Completed 1904
Access
Public
Typology
Cultural

The Haskell Free Library and Opera House straddles the Canada–United States border. Its library and stage are in Stanstead, Quebec, while its main entrance and most theater seats are in Derby Line, Vermont. Architect James Ball designed it in the Queen Anne Revival style. Construction began in 1901. The opera house opened on June 7, 1904, and the library followed in 1905. Martha M. Haskell and her son, Horace Stewart Haskell, gave the building in memory of family members.

The opera hall on the second floor seats about 400. It has a painted drop curtain depicting Venice. The walls are two feet thick and made of Stanstead granite. A black line marks the border across the public spaces.

The library holds more than 20,000 books in English and French. The building is a Canadian National Historic Site.

Comments

  • Loading comments…
Be kind. Anyone can flag a comment for review.

Sign in

or

Your profile

3 to 24 letters, numbers, underscores or periods. It’s shown with your comments.

Save to list

    Edit information

    We look the building up on Wikipedia for you. Architect Atlas lists buildings that have their own Wikipedia article: our test for notoriety and our source of truth.

        Typology
        Style (one to three)
        Photo (shown in a 4:3 frame)

        Drag and zoom to frame the building well. New photos are checked before they appear.

        Every change is checked before it goes live: facts against Wikipedia, photos by eye.