History
Pike's Opera House opened on January 9, 1868, on the property of Clement Clarke Moore, whose house "Chelsea" has given its name to the neighborhood; Pike bought up the leases to the land and secured residual right from the Moore heirs. Its frontages were 185 feet and 80 feet. The grand auditorium was seventy feet from the parquet to its dome. In six proscenium boxes and three tiers of seating, it could accommodate 1800, but over 3500 were known to have gained admittance at some popular performances. Pike's Opera House opened with a performance of La Traviata which was followed, in quick succession, by seven operettas by Jacques Offenbach in the space of four months, but the theatre succumbed after its first season of competition with the Academy of Music on 14th Street.
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