Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1961-10-01
STADIUM
Continued From First Pag

Plus. materials.
ITO handle ast-minute prep
afations, more than 900 mer
worked all week, including two
shifts of 100 cleanup labor
erss Orlando C. Sciambi, prof.
ectA superintendent, said.
Mr.. McCloskey came out
here Wednesday and said he
wanted it ready by Saturday
for sure" Mr.. Sciambi said
Holds Contract
Matthew H. McCloskey, the
Philadelphian who is treasurer
of the Democratic National
Committee, holds the stadium
general contract, as we'll as
others for the $40 million
House office Building, the
Southwest freeway, the Twelfth
street expressway, the Wood
row Wilson Bridge across the
Potomac River at Jones Point
and other mammoth Washing
ton. area projects, all now being
built simultaneously.
At today's game, an at
tendance of between $4,000 and
10000 persons is expected. The
customers will find the stadium
is still far from finished tthe
contract allows McCloskey g.
Co. until April Is. 1862, for
final completion. But, as it
stands, the enormous structure
will be Just as spectacular a
part of the show, to those who
see it for the first time. as the
encounter between the Wash
ington Redskins and the New
York Giants.
All buildings are different
from each other, but some are
more different than others.
and the new stadium is one of
the most different of all.
Among the other 165 stadiums.
amphitheaters and sports
arenas in the United States, it
has no counterpart.
Picture a 14-story-high, con-
crete-and-steel doughnut with
a 31a-acre hole in the center.
That's the stadium's basic out
line.
Add IA sets of switch-back
roadways around the outside
that are wide enough for
truck to climb to the top.
Throw in a couple of hundred
vertical aluminium fins" to
conceal the roadways.
General Idea
Visualize this. and you have
a general idea of the exterior of
the S24 million project.
Toss in 49,50O theatre-type
seats. 10 miles of protective
iron railing. enough floodlieht-
ing TO make night games as
bright as daylight.
Slash away 200 rooms within
the doughnut.
Add a mezzanine floor that
seems to float on air. plus three
miles of covered concourses. 40
turnstiles to let in the custom
ers. a scoreboard with million
feet of electrical wiring, a
tangle of pipes, concrete col
umns. steel box Orders and
heating and air-conditioning
equipment.
Clown the whole thing with
a T2-foot-wide circular roof
projecting inside the building.
The result you get is fam
tastic structure that rises l40
feet. high, is round on the
outside, shaped on the H.
SIDE, covers 10 full acres and
has a roof that could double
as a half-mile racetrack.
Put this monster on a scale
and it would weigh something
like a quarter of a billion
poundS-not counting the rs
million pounds of people it's
designed to seat.
Look at it. and you'll realize
it's different from anything
you've eyer seen. It's "whoopsi-
doodle" roller-coaster roof
creates a distinctive image,
makes it's dissimilarity to any
other stadium obvious at first
glance, and is expected to put
this lorg-sought \ building
quickly on the must" list of
Washington's tourist attrac-
tions.
Different Inside
It's internally different, too,
because of its roadway-like
ramps that let patrons walk up
a gentle slope to reach upper
decks.
1t operates differently. be-
cause it was ingeniously de-
signed to accommodate both
baseball and football, with diff
ferent fields for each game.
For football, the field is oval.
To change over for baseball.
6,400 seats mounted on two
steel platforms are rolled more
than 300 feet on permanent
railroad tracks to widen the
outfield.
In the process, the 49,500
seats for football are reduced to
45.200 for baseball, through
removal of 1900 temporary
seats.
The stadium has seven en-
trance gates. including the main
entrance. Five will be ready
for todays game. The main
entrance will be open. The two
still closed Gates "A" and IF"
flank the main entrance.
The commanding site of more
than 100 acres is on the city's
main east-west axis that in
cludes-with a Jog here and
there-the Capitol, the Mall.
the Washington Monument and
the Lincoln Memorial.
The building itself covers
elL ocrac nine tho 2lL.aora