Metropolitan Opera House

Iowa Falls, United States

Open to visitors

The interior is normally open, possibly ticketed.

Strollie cannot guarantee access — always check before you travel.

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The Metropolitan Opera House in Iowa Falls, Iowa is a Renaissance Revival opera house designed by the architecture firm Omeyer & Thori and opened on December 27, 1899, with a performance attended by over 800 people—an event celebrated as the "biggest social event in the history of Iowa Falls." Throughout its early decades, the venue attracted distinguished performers including actor Otis Skinner, Walker Whiteside, and bandleader John Philip Sousa. From 1930 to 1954, the house transitioned to showing films while also hosting concerts, drama, and dance productions by Ellsworth College and Iowa Falls High School. After restoration work in 1993 and digital projector upgrades in 2013, the theater was reopened with a notable appearance by actor Hugh Jackman, who presented two of his films. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, the building was further designated as a contributing property in the Washington Avenue Commercial Historic District in 2012.