The Portland daily press., 1897-09-15

The system of heating and ventilation,
that form SO important feature in the
construction Of every building where
lArge bodies of people are gathered to-
gether, is that more commonly known as
the hot blast system. In the heating
chamber, adjoining the engine room is
located a Sturtevant heating apparatus,
consisting of a fan nine feet In diameter
with Sturtevant engine directly connected
and Sturtevant heating coils. The air is
supplied to the heating coils, which are
directly behind the fan, from downtake
from the roof of the annex some thirty
feet from the grandlevel. The downtake
has a--capacity of about forty-five square
feet. This out door air is drawn through
the heating coils by the fan and forced
into the various ducts under the auditori
UNI at such velocity as may be desired,
and is discharged into the auditorium at
the sides and in the rear of the foyer,
The temperature Of this air can be regu.
lated by the engineer SO that in noder-
ately cold weather the auditorium will be
Implied with a lar ge volume Of pure air
very moderately warmed, or, in colder
weather, the temperature of the air can
be so raised as to give to the interior of
the auditorium the degree of temperature
needed to maintain the greatest amount
of comfort of the audience. The heating
apparatus is amply large to enable the
engineer to supply plenty Of air at a
very low velocity thereby avoiding any
unpleasant currents.
The ventilation is the natural exhaust
system. At the orchestra, which is the
lowest point of the auditorium, is placed
a curb, with ornamental grills on the face
next to the audience. This curb exhausts
from boxrail to boxrail on the lower floor
and has a net opening for the discharge
of foul air. This curb connects with an
exhaust duct under the front of the
auditorium two and half feet deep and
twelve feet wide. This in turn connects
with ventilating fue in which is placed
an aspirating coil containing five hundred
lineal feet of one inch steam pipe. This
will raise the temperature of this flue to
about one hundred and twenty five de-
grees. and, as air at ninety degrees has q
velocity of eleven hundred and forty-five
feet per minute the reader can easily
| figure out how rapidly the foul air and
cold air will be extracted from the audi.
torium.
The prosoenium arch is elliptical in
shape and is carried out some twenty feet
from the curtain line on gradual and
graceful slope, which gives to the sound
ing-board very symmetrical appearance.
Either side of the proscenium are the
private boxes, four on each side. These
boxes differ somewhat from the ordinary
box in that the lower ones are kept about
on the level with the front portion of the
auditorium. A sufficient raise is given
between the first and second box to ensure
good lines of vision. This enables the
architect to keep the level of the upper
boxes below the conventional sslye of box
which, together with the great variation
of the levels in the two upper boxes, mako
these upper boxes so much more desirable
than the average theatre box.
| The auditorium contains SIG opera
chairs of the Andrews and Demarest pat
tern. The basis of seating throughout
the house has been the widest chair man
ufactured, only using enough of the
narrower chairs to bring the tiers to the
aisles. They are all elegantly upholstered
in rich plush. This same style of chair is
used in the balcony where there are 4s7
of them. In the upper gallery, or family
circle, the seats are folding opera chairs,
with veneer seat and back, in all AT.
The boxes accommodate six people each
or rty-eight in all.
| Tho interior woodwork is, much OF it.,