Parker's Opera House

Iowa, 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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Parker's Opera House is a Victorian-era opera house in Mason City, Iowa, designed by prominent Des Moines architect William Foster and built by cousins H. G. and A. T. Parker as the community's first opera house. Stone serves both structural and decorative purposes, with a metal cornice capping the main façade. Though the opera house was superseded by more modern theatres around 1900, the building evolved to serve new functions: the first floor initially housed a clothing store before being occupied by F. W. Woolworth Company from the mid-1920s, while Standard Oil Company offices occupied the upper floors. A third floor was added in 1909, and a two-story rear addition was constructed in the 1960s. Subsequent renovations in 1997 and 2013 converted the building into dental offices and apartments. Listed individually on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998, it was later designated a contributing property in the Mason City Downtown Historic District in 2005.