The herald., 1896-11-15
WHERE THE SMART SET DANCES.
New York's Beautiful Ball Rooms
Waldorf's New Louis XIV Room.

middle of December until Lent there
are over forty dances scheduled.
Society has grown so much faster than
the size of private houses that dance at
home is no longer possible. All the prin-
cipal balls of the coming year will be
given in public halls, yet halls so ar
ranged, furnished and decorated as to
be quite equal to any of the grand sa-
Ions of European palaces
The halls devoted to this purpose are
Delmonico's, Sherrys and the grand
new room In the Waldorf. The subscrp-
tion prices per capita for the dances to
be given this winter are from SIS to $40.
or course, the entire arrangements for
these balls are made by the proprietor
OF the establishment selected, and all
that the gentlemen or ladies in charge
nave to do Is to designate approximately
how many people will be present, what
KIND OF champagne to use and whether
fedhead or canvasback ducks will be
served.
For some of the younger dancing
classes less expensive menu is provid.
ed, IT being argued that growing lads
ana lassies can dance as advantageous
ly on chicken coquettes as on terrapin.
Inc number of persons who now at
tend such dances as the Patriarchs' and
Assemblies number quite the magic 400.
THE younger people who attend the
various dancing classes average about
one hundred and fifty.
Delmon1co's room, which occupies two
stories of the building on the southwest
corner of Fifth avenue and Twenty
sixth street, was built at a time when
the ordinary dress parade of dancing
society mustered not more than 250.
with that number the ball room and ad-
1acent parlors were comfortably filled.
With 300 the rows of German chairs had
to be doubled, which always caused con-
fusion and dismay on the part of the wo-
"a oolF
dancing became almost impossible.
The room is beautifully proportioned
and Is about fifty feet by a hundred.
The walls are covered with long mirrors.
The decorations are in cream and gold
and four huge chandeliers shed a brill
liant light over the dancers. 1t is called
one OF the most becoming rooms in town
for women in ball gowns. and when dec
GRATED with greens and roses. as on a
Patriarchs night, the effect is superb.
The approaches to the ball room, how
| ever, are awkward, and the press in get
ting down stairs to the restaurant, where
| supper Is always served, in a measure
mars the beauty of the room itself. Yet
no other room in New York has the pres
| tige that this has and none has ever wit
messed more brilliant and representative
balls.
In building his ballroom some time af-
ter Delmonico's Sherry sought to avoid
| some Of the defects of his prototype.
His room Is beautiful apartment some
| seventy feet square, with a rotunda
| ceiling, in the center Of which is a blaze
of electric lights.
| The decora tions are also In cream
and gold of the Louis Seize period, and
the floor is said to be the most dance
able in the city. The supper rooms
at Sherry's as at Delmonico's, are on the
| lower floor but the connections are broad
and easy of descent. When the entire
| establishment is thrown open, as on a
night of the assemblies, beautiful pic
ture is presented, not at all suggestive
| of a. public house of entertainment.
| Besides the assemblies most of the
dancing classes are held in Sherry's.
upon which occasions the simple sup
| per Is served in a room upstairs
| 1t was to meet the ever increasing
ranks of society that the new ballroom
in the Waldorf, only just completed and
| never used as yet, was designed.
| This is g. superb apartment, nearly
100 feet square. with fine gallery and
| dressing rooms on one side, mirrors on
two sides and great French windows
| ON the fourth. The great size of the
room makes the ceiling appear rather
low-an effect somewhat increased by
the alternating panels of stained glass
and frescoes
Four hundred chairs may be placed
around the walls of this great apart
ment without overlapping or touching
each other. The decorations are in
cream and gold and the hangings are in
mauve. Myriads of electric lights are
let into the squares of the ceiling. diff
fusing a soft radiance throughout. The
great gallery will afford delightful
resting place for those who dance and
| fine point of view for those who do not.
The dressing rooms back of the gal
lery are models of eleganc and con-
venience.
The ball room opens directly, by sever
al wide doors, into the large cafe, which
will serve as a supper room when large
functions are on. The entrance is
through q private door on Thirty third
street.
Thus society is now perfectly fitted
out for small, medium sized and huge
functions. Money has been lavished
on these ball rooms to make them as
beautiful and becoming as possible
There are women who pretend to say
that they never feel at their ease ir
public ball rooms and many mothers
will not permit their daughters to go tC
them unless especially chaperoned, even
with maid in attendance.
Men. on the contrary, vote the pub
lie ball room great boon. They are not
kept on the same keen edge of etiquette
as ir a private house. They can ster
out for smoke or a "bracer," dance
till they're tired, or not at all, and in
every way conduct themselves with the
independence characteristic of the jeu-
nesse doree of the day.