Articles on the reconstruction and reopening of the Academy of Music

“The Academy of Music has made excellent progress during the last weeks.”

Lengthy architectural review of the Academy of Music, reprinted from the New York Times, but date of original article not given.

“The New Academy of Music is announced to open on Feb. 28th. The following evening a Bal d’Opera will be given, and on March 7th Maretzek will inaugurate a season of Italian Opera, with Clara Louise Kellogg, Carmen Poch, Fannie Natali Testa, Amalia m. Hauck, Antoinetta Ronconi, Stella Bonheur, Euphrosyne Parepa, F. Mazzoneni [sic], E. Testa, R. Baragli, H. Bernardi, Giorgio Ronconi, F Bellini, G. Antonucci, A. Bacelli and L. Fossati, in the troupe. The new opera house has been erected at a cost of $300,000. This structure is of brick, with brown stone trimmings. A heavy metal cornice, colored to match the stone work, surmounts the front and lateral walls on Irving Place and Fourteenth street. The exterior dimensions of the building are 117 feet front by 204 feet deep. On the basement floor there is  a banqueting room, 108 feet long by 20 wide, and an outer hall of about the same proportions, which can, if occasion demand, be used for banqueting purposes in connection with the other apartment. In the centre of the house is the wine room, and to the right and left, kitchens and pantries more conveniently arranged than in the old building. The vestibule, measuring 12 feet by 60, is paved with flag. At either end are the ticket offices; that on the right as you enter being for the accommodation of persons patronizing the parquet, balcony and box tier; the other for the frequenters of the family circle. The auditorium is enclosed by a brick wall, sixteen inches in thickness, thus forming, as it were, a building within the building. Exteriorily, this wall (which takes the place of what it, in the old Academy was merely a thin wooden partition) is plastered and bard finished; but the inner side has been clap-boarded from floor to ceiling, thus forming a huge sounding-board, which it is hoped will materially enhance the acoustic value of the theatre. The balcony has been considerably enlarged, having now eight rows of chairs, while the parquet is diminished about five feet, affording places for sixteen rows of seats. The centre door leading into the auditorium is six feed wide, while to the right and left are six more entrances of a less width. The balcony will contain 484 seats, and the parquet 436. The chairs introduced are of a new and improved pattern, a shade wider than of old. The framework is iron; the covering crimson plus. The box tier comprises a foyer (20 feet by 60) looking out on Irving place, a lobby corresponding with that on the ground floor, two large dressing rooms for ladies, hat rooms, &c. The ceiling is 18 feet high. The gallery within the auditorium is supported by iron columns, eight inches in diameter, of an ornamental pattern. The front or face of the circle is embellished with carved wood work, painted in buff and white, relieved with gold. This tier comprises fifty-five loges three rows deep. There are twenty-eight proscenium boxes, accommodating from seven to ten persons each, together about 250. These are arranged in four tiers, measuring 28 feet front by 50 feet in altitude. The first, second, and third teirs comprise three apartments each, and the fourth has five. The first tier connects with the balcony circle, the two immediately above it with the box, or dress circle, and the last with the family circle. The seating capacity is figured at 2,300.”

“New York. The New Academy of Music.—

The following description is condesned from the New York World.

            Our readers will remember that the old Academy building upon the site of the present one, was first opened to the public October 2d, 1854, by Grisi and Mario, under the direction of Mr. Hackett, and that on the night of May 21, 1866, it was burned to the ground.

            In external appearance, the new Academy very nearly resembles its predecessor. It is not so high by fifteen feet, but that is the only curtailment of the original dimensions. The main points wherein the present structure differs from that which it replaces are these: The auditorium of the new theatre is some five feet shorter than formerly; there are twenty-eight proscenium parlors instead of twelve; there are twenty-two additional mezzanine loges; the seating capacity of the balcony has been augmented, and that of the parquet diminished; the fourth tier is abolished; the aisles and inner passages have been widened; increased lobby-room is obtained; two additional flights of stone stairs united the ground and second floors; the roof has been depressed fifteen feet; the auditorium is enclosed within solid brick walls; the original horse-shoe shape is modified, and the massive pillars under the galleries are done away with, so that a clear view of the stage can be had from any position; the decorations are much more costly and elegant; and, lastly, a magnificent chandelier, overhanging the centre of the parquet, will increase the brilliancy of the house.

            The gas pipes have been enlarged and improved, for the purpose of obtaining a better flow of gas. If the Academy does not light up brilliantly, the fault will be the gas company’s. All the brackets and chandeliers have been manufactured expressly for this establishment by Tiffany & Co.

            The aggregate seating capacity has been diminished about five hundred [sic], but this counts as nothing, since now every seat is desirable, while nearly all know that there were five hundred places in the burned edifice that were utterly valueless as far as seeing the stage went, and which were rarely occupied. In a financial point of view, there will not be any material difference, the additional boxes and balcony seats balancing the revenue formerly represented in the fourth tier or ampitheatre.

            The auditorium is enclosed by a brick wall, sixteen inches in thickness, thus forming a building within the building. Exteriorly, this wall (which takes the place of what, in the old Academy, was merely a thin wooden partition) is plastered and hard-finished; but the inner side has been clap-boarded from floor to ceiling, making a huge sounding-board, which, it is hoped, will materially enhance the acoustic value of the theatre. This sound-board is coated with canvas, on which Signor Gariboldi is painting medallions and tasteful borders.

            The balcony has been considerably enlarged, having now eight rows of chairs; while the parquet is diminished about five feet, affording place for sixteen rows of seats. The centre door leading into the auditorium is six feet wide, while to the right and elft are six more entrances of a less width. The increased breadth of the aisles traversing the ground floor of the house, together with an extra amoung of lobby room, and the augmenting of the number of doors opening on to the streets, will greatly expedite the exit of large audiences. It is calculated that two thousand five hundred persons can retire from the building, without undue haste, in from three to four minutes.

            The balcony will contain four hundrrd [sic] and eighty-four seats, and the parquet four hundred and thirty-six. The chairs introduced are of a new and improved pattern, a shade wider than of old, and equally comfortable in other respects. The frame-work is iron; the covering crimson plush.

            The box-tier comprises a magnificent foyer (twenty feet by sixty), looking out on Irving Place, a lobby corresponding with that on the ground floor, two large dressing-rooms for ladies, hat-rooms, &c. The ceiling is eighteen feet high.

            The gallery within the auditorium is supported by iron columns, eight inches in diameter, of an ornamental pattern. The front or face of the circle is richly embellished with carved woodwork, painted in buff and white, relieved with gold. This tier comprises fifty-five loges, three rows deep, those opening on the lobby being separated from the others by the customary passage way. Above the back row of boxes there is a novel feature styled a mezzanine tier. This is a sort of shelf, the area of which is occupied by twenty-two small boxes (to hold four persons each), all opening on to a gallery over the lobby with which it connects by stairs toward either extremity. The mezzanine boxes command the best view of the house, and will be much sought after, not only for this reason, but because the occupants can see everybody else, while remaining unobserved themselves. Iron balustrades, neatly ornamental in design enclose the box fronts and the outer gallery. The family circle, or third tier, is planned to accommodate seven hundred and fifty sitters and half as many more standers.

            There are no less than twenty-eight proscenium boxes, accommodating from seven to ten persons each, and together about two hundred and fifty. These are arranged in four tiers, measuring twenty-eight feet front by fifty in altitude. The first, second and third tiers comprise three apartments each, and the fourth has five. The first tier connects with the balcony circle, the two immediately above it with the box, or dress circle, and the last with the family circle.

            The frescoing is nearly finished, and is in Gariboldi’s best style.”