Article on construction Pike’s new opera house

“Pike’s New Opera House.—We visited this establishment on the 20th inst. The walls are up, flooring for the parquet and three circles laid, the frames of the proscenium boxes up, the rafters supporting the stage laid, and the body of the house filled with scantling for the workmen to finish the ceiling. There were only three carpenters at work, and eight men blasting and breaking rock under the stage. The building sets back over one hundred feet from Eighth avenue, in the rear of the old Knickerbocker Stage Stables, between Twenty-third and Twenty-fourth streets. It is built of brick, and is about the size of the Academy of Music. The interior of the house at present resembles very much Niblo’s Garden. The parquet and parquet circle are arranged the same, and above are two circles. The parquet will seat about 870. The parquet circle has ten rows of seats deep, capable of seating 750; the dress circle nine rows, which will hold 590, and the amphitheatre eight deep, capabale of seating 575, making the total seating capacity 2,285, with standing room for five hundred more. The ventilation is very good, there being four windows on each side of the parquet circle and dress circle. There are six private or proscenium boxes. From present appearances we should say that the stage will be the largest of any theatre in this country. When Mr. Pike returned from Europe lately he found the stage all laid; but, as he brought with him plans of late improvements in the Parisian stages, he had it all torn up, the rafters taken out, and his new plans adopted. The dressing rooms and green room will be under the stage, and in the rear of the theatre there is building [sic] a large scene room. It is expected to be ready for opening at the commencement of the regular fall and winter season.”