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German-born George Frederick Frye (1833-1912) immigrated to Seattle in 1853. He first worked with Henry Yesler, building a sawmill to produce lumber for local use and export. In 1860, he married Louisa Catherine Denny, the daughter of Seattle pioneers Arthur Armstrong and Mary Ann Boren Denny. George and Louisa Frye had six children and resided at 1306 Madison Street. They were active business partners and established several early Seattle companies, including hotels, a bakery and gristmill.

From 1870-1874, George Frye worked as the purser and later captain of the steamer J.B. Libby. Part of the mosquito fleet, the J.B Libby obtained a federal contract to deliver mail to Coupeville, Tulalip, La Conner, Samish and other remote settlements in northern Puget Sound.

George and Louisa Frye commissioned Irish born architect John Nestor (1836-1912) to design a first-class theater for Seattle. Nestor arrived in Seattle in 1883, most likely for this important commission. He had prior experience designing theaters, and the Frye Opera House was modeled on Baldwin Theater in San Francisco.

The Frye Opera House opened in December 1884 on the northeast corner of First and Marion Street. Measuring 120 feet square, the four-story building stepped down a steep grade, with first floor retail spaces set into the hillside. At a cost of $125,000, it was the most expensive building constructed in the city at the time. It was designed in French Second Empire style, and the top featured an elaborate French-style mansard roof. The auditorium seated 1,300, and also served as a multipurpose facility for local organizations in need of a large assembly space. Seattle’s Central School #1 held its first high school graduation for twelve seniors there in 1886.

From 1884 to1889, the Frye Opera House was Seattle’s premier cultural attraction, providing an expanding population with a fashionable venue for musical and dramatic performances. The building had a brick and stucco exterior, but the wood structural framing made it extremely vulnerable to fire. The Frye Opera House was completely destroyed in the Great Fire of 1889. George Frye later built Hotel Stevens on the opera house site. Turner Hall, on the corner of Jefferson and Fourth Avenue, was one of the few Seattle stages to survive the fire. The Turner Theater combined vaudeville, minstrel shows and legitimate theater entertainment while the city rebuilt.