Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-11-17
RECITAL HALL AUDITORIUM.


The ninth and part of the eighth story are
occupied by the Chicago Conservatory of Art
and Music On the tenth floor are the offices
Of the architects and other officers of the
building The rooms on the other floors are
spacious and fitted with a / modern improve
ments. Many are occupied by musicians and
other professional people, aud 1t is expected
that the building will become the art center
Of Chicago. Its great height places # above
both the smoke and the noise, while the view
from the upper floors extends over the whole
city.
Tho tower-240 feet highs a feature in
itself, and its six stories devoted TO Office
purposes viii include as many rooms as are
60 be found in many individual office build
ings. There are nine passenger and four
freight elevators in the building, all operated
by hydraulic power. The tanks for this pur-
pose are on the fifteenth story Of the tower.
There are eleven of these. Those for the
elevators have q capacity of 2e,o00 gallons,
while the house tanks contain 5000 gallons
AZ artesian well, which has already been
sunk TO depth of 800 feet, will furnish $50
gallons Of water per minute for the use OF
the auditorium hotel There are elevators
in the tower a. well as I'm the main building
30 that access can readily be had to the high
est point
The electrical department Of the audito-
rum building Is on scale commensurate
with the magnitude Of the structure The
dynamo room OF the hall contains six en-
gines and six dynamos, with q capacity of
5000 sixteen candle lamps, besides furnishing
lis horse power CT electric motors for the
ventilating fans. There are five engines and
Eve dynainos for the hotel department, with
q capacity Of 400 sixteen candle lamps and
10 horse power Tor motors The hotel will
be run both on the American and European
plan rooms being furnished either with board
or without il, as may be desired.
Public interest In this great building CEN
ters In the hall or auditorium, the finest room
devoted to public purposes IN the world.
Even when IN its incomplete state ii wss
utilized for the meeting of the National Re-
publican convention of 1888, its magnificent
proportions impressed all who saw il The
hall covers a space 1201265 feet Its main en-
trance is on Congress street. the gallery en-
trance on Wabash avenue, and there ars
emergency exits on WABASH avenue and on
the alley TO the north. The seating capacity
of the hall is 5000, and by an ingenious
arrangement OF movable ceilings, or moro
properly iron curtains, the upper galleries
can be entirely cut eff, and the seating capac-
ity reduced TO 400 or $500, as may be de-
sired
The main floor, including the torty-two
boxes, has !, 800 seats There are no prose-
MUM boxes, the space usually taken up by
them being devoted to the great organ
There ars about /, 200 seats in The msin bal
cony, snd $50 in each of the TWO galleries
The stage, 30 feet deep and ITO feet wide, Is
larger than that Of DTury Lane and only in
ferior TO the stages of La Scala, at Milan,
and the Grand oos-a house at Paris There
are two iron curtains, by the use Of which
the stage opening can be reduced to IS or to
~ feet. The entire place is fireproof, and
the stage can be completely cut Off from the
auditorium at a moments notice.
The organ is situated in the northeast cor
ner, and is TO be four manual. with IFS
stops and 1871 pipes and bells The largest
pipes are thirty-two feet in height. The or
gan cost 5o,0oo, and the builder, Frank
Roosevelt. of New York. was instructed to