St. Paul daily globe., 1892-02-11
The Famous Architect Re-
ports on the Flour City
Convention Hall.
1t Will Far Excel Anything of
the Kind Ever Before
Constructed.
Detailed Description Of Ar
rangements--Hotel Ac-
commodationS.
Morton and Rusk Proposed
as a Ticket--VexatiouS
Vaporings.

CHICAGO, Feb. 10. - David Adler,
world-famous as the designer of the
Chicago Auditorium, and for many
years past widely celebrated as the spe-
clal architect Tor the national political
conventions of sboth leading parties
wherever held in the United States, re-
turned from Minneapolis today with
report indicating that the Twin Cities
are in the lead as the convention center
for the future.
Proverbiaily painstaking and method
lcal, Mr.. Adler is slow to become an en-
thuSiaSt, and for that reason his COM
prehensive grasp of large possibilities
in an affair of magnitude is weighty
and interesting. Mr.. Adler's report
says:
Arrangements for the conversion of
the Minneapolis exposition building
into hall for the Republican national
convention have progressed suffi-
ciently to justify the prediction
that Minneapolis will furnish the
Republican party the best convention
hall yet constructed in this country.
While at first glance nothing can be inn
agined further from the requirements
of hood convention hall than the Min
reapOliS exposition building, yet the
Willingness of the owners of the build
ing 10 permit the removal from the in
terror of large portion of the floors,
and the opening up in that way of the
entire Internal space into one
Large, Magnificent Room,
has given us all TO be required for the
accomplishment Of the result above
predicted. The plan of arrangement
first contemplated involved the utiiza-
tion for seating purposes of every square
lnch OF space in the exposition building.
This, however, would have required the
tearing out of SO much of the interior
of the building that the more conserva-
tive and tlmid of the owners of the
building would not consent to the exc
cution of this project.
The arrangement now agreed upon leaves
untouched fifty.two feet in width of the
floors all around the building, and reduces
Inc seating capacity by about 1000 from that
first contemplated, but of the remaining
seats-of which there will be between
10,000 and i1,o90-every one will command
a free and unobstfucted view of the entire
space occupied by the delegates Every
spectator in the hall will be able to see and
hear every one who may rise to- speak i'll the
bedyof the delegates or from the rostrom.
In general way, the arrangement OF the hall
may be described as follows:
Hall Arrangements.
/ In the center will be a space nearly
square which will be-occuped by the
delegates. for whom settees or opera
chairs will be provided. The as!es will
be SO arranged as to render easy the ap-
proach to the seats themselves, and
communication between the diff
front of the space occupied by
the delegates and extending across ITS
entire width will be an elevated ros-
trum, in the center of which will be an
other elevation, which is to be occupied
by the chairman of the convention, the
clerk of the convention, and the
stand for the speakers. Immediately
behind this will be seats for the ma
tional committee, and for the honored
guests of the convention.
To each side of the rostrum for the
Officers of the convention will be
tables, first for the representatives of
the press associations and for the chief
representatives of the telegraph com
panles, then for the reporters of the
leading dailieS of the country: in ad-
ditiOn to these will be chairs for those
representatives of the press not engaged
In the immediate work of making YER
batim reports of proceedings, but en-
gagged in description writing, etc.
Seats for Spectators
will rise in every direction from the
central space before described upon a
method of stepping technically known
as the ''iSacOuStic curve" the purpose
and effect of which is to give the best
and most effective combination of sight
and sound lines known 10 modern
science. Those who were in the opera
festival in the exposition building in
1885, OF in the Auditorium at the Repub-
lcan convention of 1883, will remember
the thrilling effect of the sight of so
many faces at one glance.
This effect will be surpassed at the
Minneapolis convention hall, inasmuch
as the audience will be even better dis
posed for this purpose than upon those
memorable occasions. 1t is safe to as
sumo that each person seated in the
house will be able to take in at one
glance the faces of at least 5000 people.
Barring the difference as between the
curvelinear and the rectangular plan,
the conditions will resemble more those
OF the Roman amphitheater than those
OF the interior of any modern structure.
The means of ingress and egress will be
similar to those in use at the various
music festivals and conventions held in
former times in our exposition building
and now in use in the Auditorium. The
seats will be subdivided into compare
lively small sections, each with
Separate Entrance,
and such arrangements will be made in
the printing and designating of the
tickets that the entire mammoth audi
ence can he seated as rapidly as the
audience OF an ordinary theater. The
arrangements made for egress from the
house involve the erection of new
stairways, aggregating 120 feet In
width. The arrangements made
for the comfort and convenience
of the representatives of the press and
for the telegraph companies will be,
thanks to some peculiarites of the plan
of the existing building, better than
could have been hoped for in any exist
ing structure, far better than they were
in the Auditorium in 1888. Committee
rooms, cloak rooms, restaurants, ETC.,
are being arranged for on the most lib
eral scale.
Work upon the drawings is being
prosecuted with the utmost diligence
simultaneously at the office of Warren
ii. Hayes, of Minneapolis, and Adler &
Sullivan, of Chicago, and it is expected
that the work will be ready for letting
contracts within two weeks. The citi-
zens Of Minneapolis have taken hold Of
the preparations for this convention
with zeal and enthusiasm that prom
ises great results. Men of the highest
business standing seem ready and at
hand for committee work. Their only |
purpose was to he that 0f MAKING the