The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-12-30
OGDEN OPERA HOUSE
Emma Abbott Opens the New
Temple of Art.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE.
THE Rose OF Castillo the First Bill-Farewell
of an oId-Time Legend VIII
Now Appear.
DESCRIPTION OF THE HOUSE.

oGDEN, Deol 29.-[Special telegram to TIE
HERALD
OGDEN, Utah, pop. 7,OOO)-Union opera house; |
dilapidated AFFAIR; seats $40; w. Van Dyke, !
manager; rent only. A good town to skip.
The above legend, which has stood year
IN and year out in the columns OF the lead |
ing San Francisco theatrical paper, and |
formed decidedly black eye to all of
Ogden's enterprise, will have to be taken |
out after tonight and replaced with some !
thing like the following:
OGDEN. Utah, pop. f5,00O-Grand opera house;
handsome theatre: seats 200 to 1903; BoweS
Philips, managers; rent or share. Good !
Show town.
The proudest moment Ogden ever expert
enced, not excepting the great carnival oc-
casion, was tonight when Frank j. Can
non led Emma Abbott were out upon the
stage of the new opera house and intro
duced her as the queen Of song TO
Ogden, the Queen City Of the Noun
tains. Every loyal son Of Rex rose TO the
occasion aud the cheers that went
up when the orator coLc.uded, tested the
seasoning OF the new timbers. The fair
Lmma made d response, in which she
stated thai she Lal opened many opera
houses in Ter plsl uut never one 50 beau
uiul, 50 c.aa lr-.e Is tI-s; she had long
Wished ~ ca1.c 10 U--en, ard she hoped
su5 co4lI say wl,a Jui.e-. wait but 4
lIt.le al4 I H.A como al H." Then the
applause r.sc, tle gorge u curtain de-
sc-Ada5. -L4 o. erJure opened and the opera
commenced.
The lat guage Of honest Emma might
sound eXtraN4sant, but it really Goes no
more Tran justice 10 OgGen's new temple
Of art. 1t Is a marvel of beauty, taste and
brilliance 1t is about the same size as the
Salt Lake theatre, but seats 1877 more people,
is larger than the Tabor grand of Denver,
and finished in terra Gotta or sandal
wood color, much after the style of that
house. 1t suggests the Haymarket of
Chicago rather more than either and to
stand within its gorgeous surroundings one
might imagine he was in Chicago, New
\ ork or Denver but not in Ogden. In
deed those Salt Lakers who were IN at
tendance had their eyes opened as never
before as to what Ogden really amounts to-.
The receipts counted up over 81, zoo Not
only was the great auditorium packed above
nd below at a dollar half prices,
but the audience seated under the glow OF
myriads OF colored electric lights pre-
scented to the eye a blaze of fashion and
beauty that fairly Wed with many opera
gatherings in Salt Lake. There were many
elegant toilets, especially in the charming
boxes All Ogden's prominent society
people were out, and among the visitors in
the audience were noticed Hon. Moses
Thatcher, OF Logan, Manager Burton,
MIR. Wells, MIR Whitney, of The HERALD,
H. S. Young and Peter McCourt, manager
of the Tabor Grand and head of the Silver
circuit, in which the new opera house at
once takes its place.
The house was a greater part of the show
than the opera. The decorations are ele-
CANT, and the curtain aud scenery are both
as sumptuous as any Chicago or New York
houses can boast of. The total cost thus
far is fully S150,00O and it has been well
expended by Whitaker, architect who
got big round when named by Mr. Can
non. The house is not quite finished as
yet. The only possible drawback noticed
was slowness in emptying and the exits
should either be increased or wldened. But
tits a great show house and will do more
good for Ogden than half dozen car
nivals.
Several attempts have been made in the
past few years to build theatre of some
kind in this city, but all the projects have
failed to come to maturity until last May,
when David Eccles, Joseph Clark,
j. NJ Browning and Matt S,
Browning, associated themselves
together and decided to build an opera
house equal to any in the west. As soon
as practicable, after the idea was appre-
hende0, work was begun on the building in
earnest, which was in June Up to the
present time there has been 1000 yards of
excavating finished, 5000 cubic feet of
cement placed in position; 10000 cubic feet
Of quarried stone built in the walls: 2200,-
coo brick used in the main walls: 693 946
feet of timber used in framing the roof
floors, galleries, bridges and truss timbers:
Ill, 600 pounds Of cast iron for supporting
the various parts of the building; 20 600
pounds of nails have been used: 5000 pounds
OF steel used as Orders; eighteen miles of
wires convey the electrical current to the
1900 incandescent lights in the building
16, 500 feet of pipe have been used for steam
heating and water supplying purposes:
$500 feet Of rope is used for hosting and
cordlng the counter weights, and the
scenes are painted upon Il, 900 yards of
canvas. Aside from this are the decora-
lions and interior furnishings, which are
costly pieces of art and effects.
The building itself is marvel of beauty ;
it is five stories high and has frontage on
Washington avenue of 80 S-l2 feet, and
and proceeds backward toward the center
OF the block 226 feet. The exterior aud
general architecture is Romanesque, with
occasional Moorish decorations on white
metal. Over the grand entrance appears a
series of balconies surrounded by a Turk
ish Minaret. The frontage of the build
ing is made of white pressed
brick, that were manufactured in
this city. AT the entrance On Washington
avenue, we pass through large stone arch
into the lobby, where the floor is covered
with mosaic thing. The encasing vain
soothing and frescoed walls added to the
beautifully decorated arches make it a
gateway of splendor. After having passed
pair of heavy oak doors with plate glass
another scene meets the optics. On the
left is a passenger elevator. On the right
is the stairway that leads to the offices and
gallery. Before going further we again
pass through heavy oak doors, which sep
arate the lobby from the managers office
at this point the theatre proper begins
Although integrally a portion OF the bust
ness block, the changing style causes The
observers notice In passing into the
managers Office on the right the box Office
Is noticed, octagon in shape and covered