The age-herald., 1897-08-08

present. lick. Birmingham will be great city in a very short time. There are four times as many fine residences in courss of construction as have seen at any time in six years"
 In the business portion of the city ex- cavations and stacks of material make ,f passage along many of the streets and avenues very inconvenient. f'7 The old story of the "hum of the ham-
 mer'' and the "song of the saw" is sug- gested to every one who visits our thor
 oughfares, and the much enathmetised
 'loafer Is faced at every turn by the m stem countenance of the sign board, in vitiug him to vamoosa the premisj s. There is no room these days in the streets of Birminghom for the man who refuses <, to turn his hand to labor. The sinister son of Adam, who says "all instruments of labor are direct inventions of the Devip' is no longer to be found lurking inJ the shadows of our buildings. He has <4 either been converted to a more progress -@ i've belief, or shuffied off the premises by g the collar of his last winters coat, to 5 make way for the lusty bod carrier who signals his approach with song of s, prosperity.
 l,se, Birmingham is spreading her domains a with every sun.
 -f.. The observation, that westward the cause Of empire takes her way" might apply to less progressive cities, but Bir- mfngham takes her cause in every direc- tion of the compass.
 Following is list of some of the nota- p 1ble buildings under construction at this p time:
 The Auditorium
 The Auditorium, built by subscription $, at, a cost of s15,00O, Is nearing compile tion,
 " The building has frontage of 100 feet on Third avenue and 40 feet deep on Seventeenth street. On the main floor :. --tfe stage occupies a depth of A feet, the orchestra feet, the parquette 79 feet and the foyer 8 feet. The main floor -- contains 1920 seats, arranged in sweeping curves, with total rise of feet. s->Adwantage is taken of this rise and of tine fall of the grade of Seventeenth -sstreeit to obtain under the higher parts ssof the parquette an entrance foyer of ~s2ex60 feet, with box office, wardrobe and cloak rooms of generous capacity. 1.-The rise of the main floor has also made practicable the arrangement of 1.-two wide entrances, by which the lower :. half of the parquette seats are reached ~without rendering 1t necessary to climb to the upper level of the main floor. Ex- cessive crowding on the main stairs is also avoided.
 The main balcony elliptical in plan, is ' S9 feet deep at the end and 21 feet deep at the sidse The seats are stepped up .upon the lines of Scott Russells is a acoustic curve, which here develop into a = rise of 10 feet from the lowest to the Asnighest.
 The balcony contains s30 seats, and the Nerrtrance is from the feet foyer at the Front.
 s~=The top gallery, elliptical in plan is 2S %fect deep at the end and IS feet at the e"Hides, and contains ITS seats, with two ssfntrances. one at each front corner of ~tbe building.
 At the front of the building on the gal sslery floor level is provided a roof walk z Sixteen feet wide and ninety eight feet long.
 ~s The total capacity of the house is s,O25
 numbered seats and is independent of Standing room.
 The dimensions of the stage are 36x9s feet and the height from floor to rigging loft 36 feet. The stage is provided with Izdrcssing rooms three on each side. The proscenium opening is 4S feet wide -@and 26 feet high.
 4 Sufficient exits are provided to empty
 the house in short space of time, with
 out excessive crewding. there being five exits from the main floor, three from ssths main balcony and three from the ssgalIery. sfe- ss,s sssTThs Auditorium wili be well ventilated