Evansville daily journal. (Evansville, Ind.) 1863-1866, 1865-11-27
Turner's New Opera-HOuse at Day.
ton, Ohio,

tOMs VuAUs
From the Dayton (ohio) Journal
In our own quiet and beautiful little
city, the delightful home of not to ex-
coed twenty-five or thirty thousand souls,
we march steadily with the pace of pro-
gress. Our broad, Clearly streets illus
trate taste, refinement, and wealth, in a
pleasant array of elegant homes, and
our browning excellence is a temple
erected to the Muses. which is at once
the measure of our ambition, our public
taste, and the common progressiveness
of our people. Individual enterprises
projected it, but the Inspiration was of
popular intelligence. Those who con-
template Turner'S Opera House will
yield tribute of praise to the liberality
of Joseph M. and William Turner, in
their lavish expenditure of wealth in
the creation of their noble structure, but
those who think will look for the inspi-
ration which gave birth to such an en-
terprise; and they will find 1t in the
spirit of the people of Dayton --'
The edifce is simple but elegant, mas
siye in structure, stately in proportions,
and, when completed, will be as rich in
interior decorations as it is admirable in
arrangements snd appearance.
1t is Norman-French design, rising
one hundred feet from the street, and
terminating in richly decorated Man
sard roof 1t occupies an area of one
hundred feet front on the east side Of
Main street, by one hundred and twenty
FIVE feet on the south side of first In
altitude it spans five lofty stories, with a
ha nj Cd L. II.
restaurant and saloon forty feet BY one
hundred and twenty-five, aud cores.
ponding cellar sixty feet by one hundred
and twenty-five. The plan embraces the
ideas of commerce and fine arts. The
best skill of accomplished architects was
required in. harmonizings utility with
architectural elegance The street floor
is appropriated to mercantile PURPOSES.
All the remainder constitutes the Opera
House and its accessories. kt
The Main street front, with a return
of twenty-five feet on First, is construct
ed OF Buena Vista gray freestone, as
smooth as glass. There are FIVE beauti- |
full business rooms with lofty ceilings,
on Main street, with arched cellar, way
under the sidewalk. Double windows
arched and columnated,a and a large
oriole on either wing Of the Main street
front, with arow of half windows arched
and columned, impart light, airy and
elegant appearance to the face of the
building. At the termination of the
return" on First street the wall is of fine
brick, until you reach the grand entree,
which is an elaborate piece of freestone |
work, twenty-five feet wide and thirty in
height, crowned with a handsome pro-
lection of six feet from the face wall. |
forming the curtain of street balcony |
for musicians. A grand staircase, TWEEN |
ty-hve feet wide, subdividing into two |
starwayS, at the first landing, connects
at the head with spacious sixteen feet |
corridor, which communicates with the |
auditorium, or Opera House proper. by
two broad and lofty doorways, and also
connects with sumptuons saloon parlors
for guests, which are to be luxuriously
furnished with the most elegant carpet
ings, mirrors, and stylish furniture. The
corridor is well lighted with fifteen
ample windows. The auditorium il
a chef-d 'guUre of art--a model of
structure, and elegant adorn-
destinations, but rich and
brilliant. A few large halls in the great
cities excel it in dimensions, but few
equal it in beauty and arrangement. In
acoustic properties and radial lines, we
know of no dramatic temple that is its
peer. There is no point in the parquet,
dress circle, family circle, OF. gallery, I
from which every portion of the stage ia
nos visible without effort on the part of
auditors to see the performance in the
most minute details. While not quite
so large as Pixies Opera House, it is
more graceful and tasteful, and is more
artistically constructed for dramatic eff
fects. 8 81 { z f[@EIF1 II
The first floor comprises the paruuet
and dress circle, or balcony, and the
second consists of the family circle. and
gallery, which rises from the front in l.
the regular amphitheatrical form. and
recedes until it terminates at the lobby
above the main corridor. 1t embraces
an area of seventy feet six inches in
width by seventy feet from the stage to
the corridor. Sittings of the most
'umptuous character are provided for
eighteen hundred persons, but it will ae- ;
,ommodate over two thousand without
discomfort. The family circle and gal
cry are supported by well proportioned
ron columns, which art will transform {
nto graceful supports. And ample ven
ilation is secured by windows on three
ides, and an admirable arrangement
# ventilation in grand dome and. 1.-the
;arved cornices of the ceiling.
The ceiling, seventy-six feet wide by
ninety deep, and forty feet above the
loor, is crowned with q graceful octag-
nal colonaded dome, and finished with
richly bracketed and carved cornice,
he whole surface frsscoed in the best
lyle of art There are four large PAN
Is and four medallions surrounding the
.ome, representing Poetry, just above
he orchestra box, and successfully, as
'ou follow the line of vision to the right,
y Music, Tragedy, Flora, Glory, Fame
md History. This work ia very beauti-
uliy executed, and its brilliant effect is 7
realty enhanced by the PAPER msche 6
decorations prepared from original de- Y
igns' and which are admirable speci. y
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