The National Opera House has announced that the Mellon Foundation has awarded a $1.75 million grant to continue support for the restoration and preservation of the historic house on 7101 Apple Street in Pittsburgh.

The property served as the former headquarters of the National Negro Opera Company and is considered the birthplace of classical jazz. The award marks a major investment in one of the nation’s most significant Black cultural landmarks and advances efforts to preserve the only surviving structure directly tied to the National Negro Opera Company, which was founded in 1941 by pioneering arts leader Mary Cardwell Dawson.

The Mellon Foundation grant will provide two years of support, restarting the project and bringing new energy and talent toward its completion. The funding moves the effort from stabilization toward the next phase of preservation and activation.

“This grant is a powerful affirmation that this site matters, not only to Pittsburgh, but to the American story,” said Jonnet Solomon, Executive Director of the National Opera House, per an official press release. “Mary Cardwell Dawson built a national platform for Black opera singers at a time when the country tried to shut them out. Reconstructing this house is about protecting that legacy and returning it to public life.”

The National Opera House is leading the reconstruction of the site as a future cultural, educational, and heritage destination. Once complete, the restored opera house will serve as a public space for preservation, performance, research, workforce development, and educational programming.

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