The Kansas City sun. (Kansas City, Mo.) 1908-1924, 1914-12-19
THE NEW ORPHEUM

When the new Orpheum opens Sat
urday night, December 10, Kansas City
will have added to her list Of show,
places Americas finest and handsom-
est theater. Situated $50 feet south
Of Twelfth street on Baltimore ave-
nue., the location is ideal for theatre
cal purposes, being Immediately ad-
jacent to the new Muehlbach hotel,
near the Baltimore and Sexton hotels,
and with easy access to all a lines
and on the main automobile thorough
fare from the Union station. The
enw theater building is one of impos-
ing dignity, the architectural style
following the modern French Renais-
sance and is built entirely Of concrete
and steel, faced with terra Gotta. The
building is entirely isolated from all
others surrounding, having a 15-foot
areaway on each side and the rear.
Every suggestion of the fire under
writer's has been carried out in the
construction, with thirty odd double
door exits and extra size fire escapes,
making the building absolutely safe
from fire and panic.
The building covers a lot 100 feet
wide and 146 feet deep. The main
truss that supports the cantilevers for
the balcony is "a feet long and 1917
feet high, weighing owe thirty tons.
This is the largest and heaviest steel
truss in any theater building in the
West. The architect is G. Albert
L~ansburgh of San Francisco, and the
new building will be the sixth theater
he has built for the circuit. Mr.. Lans-
burgh is one of the associate archi-
tects of the Panama-Pacific exposi-
ton. He declares the new house to
be the most complete and comfortable
theater he has ever designed, having
embodied in it all modern conven-
fences and improvements gained by
close observation and study of thea
ter buildings in Europe and America.
The front of the building and re-
turns are of terra Gotta, closely re-
sembling Tennessee marble. The prin-
cipal features of the facade are the
handsomely modelled groups in the
main pediments and the five panels
in the attice. The pieces were all
made from special drawings and were
modelled from life under the direct
supervision of the architect.
They are the largest pieces of ter
ra Gotta ever cast and baked in n
piece. The panels are s%ymbolical of
music and dancing. The terra Gotta
in this building is conceded to be the
finest e made in America and was
the subject of special articles in the
National Terra Gotta Society's Jour
nal.
Through the double vestibuled en-
frances one enters into a spacious
arched lobby where the same colored
terra Gotta as in the front is used, only
here the architect has inserted orig
inal ideas in using %polychrome, or
many colored terra Gotta, in the cell
ing, walls and vestibule. Five dis
tinct colors are shown in each piece
and in the various ornaments. The
lobby floor is of random marble mo-
sale in figured patterns and panels.
This floor took over six weeks to lay,
every piece being put in separately,
by hand, and matched. Some of the
pieces are only ~one-quarter inch
square in size. To the right and left
of the lobby wide marble stairways
lead to the balcony. All the stair
ways and double doors are unusually
large so as to preclude the possibility
of crowding even when emptying the
1900 seats-the theater's capacity
The box office is to the right and the
managers office to the left. The box
office has two sale windows-one for
sale of the performance going on, only,
and the other for advance, telephone
reservations and information. This
latter feature Is of great convenience
to those in line when the performance
is starting.
On a line with the entrance doors
are the five sets of double doors lead
ing to the foyer, which is heavily
carpeted with a specially woven de-
sign to blend with the scheme of dec
Grafton. All the boxes, aisles and
loges on the first two floors are laid
with the same design. The ladies'
room has thick rugs laid on a tiled
floor. To the right and left of the
foyer are marble stairways leading to
the ladies' retiring room on the mez'
canine floor above the lobby. Under
these stairs are the telephone booths
for local and long distance calls.
Ones first impression of the main
auditorium is the dignity of the archi-
tectural decoration and the broad
sweep Of the balconies. Massive
columns on each side of the proscen-
ium arch and side walls support the
dome dceiling. which, broken up in
panels and highly ornamental, seems
to grow out Of the walls so gracefully
and unbroken do the lines flow. The
lower floor has a capacity of nearly
/ 200 seats, every one commanding a
complete and unobstructed view of
the stage. There are no posts in the
auditorium, the balconies being OF
cantilever construction. These bal
comics will seal more than 1000 per
sons.
Squarely in front is the great house
curtain of wire woven asbestos, weigh
ing more than 1900 pounds. This is
painted in imitation of velvet drapery
This curtain is hung on endless steel
cable in a pipe frame, and so perfectly