I like to make comparisons. For instance, I have tried to imagine the London of Charles Dickens and the Lewiston of Charles Douglas, one of Maine’s leading architects.

It was only about 30 years between the 1843 publication of Dickens’ classic “A Christmas Carol” and the emergence of Lisbon Street in the early 1870s as a bustling center of local commerce at Christmas time. Although fashion and custom changed rapidly in those days – much as it does in our 21st century – I think that long-ago holiday time on Lisbon Street had a lot in common with the society of Dickens’ time.

There were newspaper ads in December of 1871 for toys, dolls and games at J. Friedman and Company, 17 Lisbon Street. Young’s 99-Cent Store at 80 Lisbon Street advertised Christmas and New Year’s presents, and “Santa Claus in Auburn” was said to be at the Court Street jewelry store of E.R. Pierce.

It was midway through the Victorian era when an important building designed by Lewiston architect Charles F. Douglas opened in September of 1871 at 49 Lisbon Street.

That building was Lyceum Hall, which housed a grand theater on the upper floors and new retail establishments on the street level. It was the city’s first major theatrical venue. The public entered and ascended a wide staircase to the second floor where a few professional offices lined the left side of a corridor and the theater’s reception and ticketing area was on the right. Another wide staircase at the back went to the wide open third and fourth floors with seating for 1,000 on the main level and on a large mezzanine. The stage was built along the Lisbon Street side of the hall.

It’s now only a shell of its former grandeur when celebrities, including Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill Hickok, appeared there, but remnants of wainscoted walls and ornate banisters can still be seen. Overhead, there are two massive heat chimneys, which are inverted funnel-shaped structures with ceiling openings about 10 feet square.

On summer days, those chimneys allowed excess heat to escape.

The remains of this old theater are fascinating to see today, but it’s the activity on the ground floor that really ignites my imagination.

Fuel Restaurant is enjoying a highly successful opening year under owners Eric and Carrie Agren, and next door Gallery 5 of L/A Arts complements the cuisine with a chance to view and buy works by area artists. Eric Agren showed me his Lyceum Hall, top to bottom, and talked about his passion for saving all the best of the old. He and his wife live above the restaurant-gallery space in a remarkable renovation of the space below the old theater. They kept brick walls, beams, and even a door in their modern kitchen with faint lettering – “Ladies Toilet.”

As we walked the dark and empty upper floor, Eric pointed out old woodwork of the original theater that he and his wife utilized to make their dining table.

Eric explained to me that original owners of the large new structure were Richards and Merrill, and they had a men’s clothing store where the restaurant is now located. On the Gallery 5 side was Owens and Little, a hardware store that was a predecessor of Hall and Knight Hardware, a well-known Lewiston business for many years.

The Lyceum Hall retail space was occupied by Berry Paper Co. in the 1920s through the 1950s or 1960s, and it also housed Ilona’s Hairstyling and office space for Androscoggin Bank.

As Christmas approaches, I look at Fuel and Gallery 5 as establishments that rekindle the spirit of Lewiston’s old Lisbon Street. I know the old theater can never be restored, but just walking into the building and knowing the significance of what can be found above makes me appreciate Lisbon Street’s exciting past – and I am optimistic about Lisbon Street’s future.