The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1896-07-04
The Largest on Earth.
From the Chicago In,er-ocean.

From the Chicago nter-Ocean.
The following official figures as supplied
by F. S. Beman, the architect, establishes
the claim already made for it that the
Coliseum is the largest building in the
world The building is 727 feet long by
800 feet wide. On the south end, the
location of the sixty-thrd entrance, there
is yestibule IA feet wide by so feet
deep. On the east side of the building
there are two vestibules, each of which is
% feet by 81 feet The height of the
building inside is 100 feet The outer
walls are A feet high The roof is built
in terraces to the height Of | 05 feet The
roof is supported by twelve steel trusses,
constructed upon the same principles as the
great trusses or arches which upheld the
roof of the Manufactures Building at the
World Fair. These trusses or arches are
230 feet in width. The interior length of
the building, exclusive of the vestibule, is
G76 feet There are two permanent gal
leries in the building; the first one, which
is called the balcony, is 25 feet above the
main floor, and is 40 feet wide, and runs
all around the building. The second one
is 40 feet above the main floor and is II
feet wide The total floor space inside the
building is 2S5, 900 square feet. As ar
ranged for Buffalo Bills Wild West,
which will inaugurate the building on next
Monday, the arena is 600 feet long by 100
feet wide As city block is 400 feet in
length some idea of the length of this arena
may be imagined The seating capacity
of the building as arranged for Buffalo
Bill Wild West is 30, 900.
1t may be changed, however, to accom-
modate any size audience from 1000 to
so, 200 persons. One very important
feature of the construction of this building
is that the weight of the seats and the au-
diences upon the main floor of the build
ing comes directly upon the ground, and
does not place the strain of one pound on
the structure itself. The system of light
ing employed in the building is almost en-
tirely new one, and will be used for the
first time in this building. 1t comprises
100 electric are lights, each being rein
forced by a powerful reflector, and pro-
duces the most brilliant illumination pro-
badly ever given the interior of any build
ing.
The historic Coliseum in Rome, cover
ing nearly FIVE acres, was in the form of
an ellipse, the longest diameter 615 feet,
its shortest 510. 1t is estimated it had a
seating capacity for 81, 900 spectators
The exterior walls of the edifce consisted
of four stories of three different orders of
architecture Ionic and Corinthian
The arena within was 2S1 feet in length
and 176 feet in breadth. 1t may be in
teresting in this connection to note the ca
pacity of the largest public buildingsin the
world ST. Peter $, Rome, "a, 900; Thea
tire of Pompey, Rome, 40, 900; Cathedral,
Milan, 81, 900; st. Paurs Rome, 80, =
600; St. Paul s, London, 81, 900; St.
Petronia, Bologna, 26, 600; Cathedral,
Florence, 900; Cathedral, Antwerp,
"a, 300; St. John Lateran, Rome, %,
900; st. Sophia, Constantinople, 1000;
Nore Dame. Paris, 21,500; Theatre OF
Marcellus, Rome, q, 900; Cathedral,
Pisa, 5000; st. Stephens, Vienna,
u, 400; St. Dominic $, Bologna, II, 400;
Cathedral, Vienna, 11,OOO; Madison
Square Garden, New York, 8443; the
Auditorium, in this city, has 4170 seats,
and on occasion has held audiences of 10, =
900. The Music Hall in ST. Louis has
1861 seats; Metropolitan Opera House,
New York, 3O45; the Music Hall in Gin
cinuati seats nearly 1000; La Scala, in
Milan, seats 1860; San Carlos, in Naples,
1850; the Grand Opera House in Paris
seats 2l56; Imperial Opera House in
Vienna, 22OO, and Covent Garden, in
London, 2500.