Princess Street - 300 block.

View of the north side of the 300 block of Princess Street, with the entrance to Thalian Hall at left. Note house on the corner of the 100 block of north Fourth Street, which was owned by Sarah Bowden. The pavement of Princess Street is made of brick. Wilmington's impressive City Hall and attendant theater, Thalian Hall, was authorized by the Wilmington Board of Alderman in 1854. John Trimble, a New York architect designed the Italinate/Classical-Revival structure. Local builder, James F. Post, was the supervising architect and Robert B. Wood, John Wood and George Rose were the builders. Opened in April 1858, Thalian Hall has been called a classic Victorian theater, similar in design to the famous Ford Theater in Washington, DC. It has had several names over its long history - the Opera House, Academy of Music and, finally, Thalian Hall, after a local theater group, reputedly the oldest amateur troupe in America.

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