Town Hall / Levy Opera House

Town Hall, also, Levy Opera House. Charlottesville's First Performing Arts Center. Erected by private interests in 1852 as a Town Hall, this building also served as an auditorium hosting traveling plays and musical events featuring performers such as opera singer Jenny Lind. It was also used by other organizations, such as Charlottesville's first Roman Catholic Church which began here. During the Civil War it served as a hospital (for wounded soldiers transported here via the railroad), and a place where Confederate uniforms were stitched together. in 1888 Jefferson Monroe Levy, a Jewish man who owned Monticello, remodeled it to seat 800 and named it the Levy Opera House. In 1981 Hedgerow Corporation Henderson Heyward, architect renovated it to accommodate office space. The original site and the area to the north was known as the Battery, a parade ground for military drills and recreation. In March of 1865 Federal troops used it during their occupation of the city, and General Philip Sheridan had his headquarters just north on Park Street.