The Boston Opera House (originally known as the B. F. Keith Memorial Theatre) is one of the finest examples of the vaudeville circuit palace at the pinnacle of its development. Designed in a combination of French and Italian styles by Thomas White Lamb, one of the foremost theatre architects of his day, it was erected under the close personal supervision of Edward Franklin Albee (1857-1930 and great-grandfather of the playwright of the same name) to memorialize his late partner, Benjamin Franklin Keith (1846-1914). Because it was constructed as a memorial and tribute to vaudeville’s greatest impresario, it was built with a degree of luxury in its appointments that is almost unrivalled.