Article on the construction of Pike's Opera House

“Pike’s Opera House: Progress of the Work – Full Details and Description of the Building – When it is to be Completed – Style of its Decoration – Its Interior and Exterior – Facts, Figures, and Dimensions.

It is a gratifying indication of the steady and vigorous growth of dramatic art that managerial enterprise and zeal keep adequate pace with the growing taste for higher, purer and more ideal representations among the patrons of the modern drama. The drama during the past twenty years with some expcetions, has made satisfactory and ennobling progress towards a better and more elevated standard; and with this progress the demand for dramatic temples suited to the growing sentiment of the age has advanced also. The result is apparent in the magnficient edifices which have been recently dedicated to the Muse in various parts of the country, some of them even rivalling the palaces of the Orient in grandeur of decoration, minuteness of detail and goreousness of finish. The rationale of this is obvious. The civilizing tendencies of the age affect society in all its relations, and as the age advances the tastes of the people become more fastidious. The same taste that demands a revival of the legitimate in literature and the [illeg.]’s art demands likewise a higher standard of dramatic art and better theatres than have heretofore been the fashion. Finished and cultivated acting in the atmosphere of an undecorated theatre would be qual to placing a kingly feast in a pauper’s hut, or an elegant sword in a clumsy sheath.

Some thought of this kind must have passed through the mind of Mr. S.N. Pike, of Cincinnati, when he concluded to erect the elegant and costly uptown edifice, now very nearly completed. The enterprise is purely an individual one. He has called to his aid none of the joint stock manipulators who are so common nowadays, but, relying upon his large and extended practical experience, his great energy and perseverance and his immense capital—report makes him worth fully three millions—he has gone to work zealously and fearlessly to complete a magnificent work that will long redound to his credit.

Looming grandly up high above all other buildings on the avenue, a marble pile of gigantic size and handsome proportions, stands the building which is destined to occupy a conspicuous position among the popular theatrical edifices of New York. The establishment is located on the west side of Eighth avenue, commencing at the corner of Twenty-third street and occupying nearly half the block northerly. The frontage on Eighth avenue is 112 feet north from the corner of Twenty-third street, and the frontage on Twenty-third street is 120 feet west from the corner of the avenue. The ground plan is of irregular formation, the opera house being built between the two streets and not directly in rear of the corner building. The extreme depth, west from Eighth avenue, is 325 feet; giving a lot of ground in round figures of about 140 by 275, besides an additional lot on Twenty-fourth street of 79 feet front by 55 deep, running back to the westerly and of the north boundary of the principal lot, and making in the aggregate fully 47,500 superficial feet. The corner building is four stories high and constructed entirely of marble, except the lower story, which is of ornamental iron work. The foundations are deep and substantially secured. The exterior finish of this elegant marble structure is a combination of the Italian and Corinthian orders. Over the principal entrance on Eighth avenue rises a magnificent Corinthian portico supporting two marble figures representing Music and Comedy. Above these, and standing out from the third story, are the statues of Shakespeare and Mozart in bas-relief, and surmounting all, at the summit of the edifice, stands an elegantly finished and splendidly executed group in marble, Apollo being the central figure and Avide and Erato appearing on either side. These features, added to the ordinary finish and beauty of the building, sereve to render it exteriorly one of the finest in the city.

The interior of the building merits fully as minute a description as the exterior. The basement floor is a [illeg.] 60x90 feet, and will be devoted to the purposes of a restaurant and fitted up in a style suited to the ends which it is to subserve. Upon the first floor there are four stores, each seventy-five feet deep; two on either side of the grand entrance of Eighth avenue. On the second story and extending through to the fourth story there is a splendid hall, designed for musical and ball room purposes, occupying an area of 67x93 feet and 33 feet high, containing galleries and orchestra stand, the whole ornamented by columns, spandrels, and other devices of an elaborate and beautiful design. There will be two entrances to this grand hall, one on Eighth avenue and one on Twenty-third street, each twenty-three feet wide. Adjoining the hall on the second story is a large supper room, and above it, on the fourth floor, are rooms for lodge meetings, committee rooms, &c. This elegant edifice is eighty-five feet high and is surmounted by an attractive and substantially built lansard roof.

[Beginning of paragraph about exact placement of opera house: how many feet away from each surrounding street, etc.]…The decorations of the Opera House are magnificent. The style is somewhat capricious and varied, but more nearly resembles the Elizbaethan than any other order. The aim has been evidently to harmonize everything, color ornament and style, so that the effect would be both stirking and satisfactory. The walls are plastered and paneled in [illeg.], mostly of light tint in as relief, the second tier is ornamented with small cupids and musical devices and the third tier with raised wreaths of flowers in grit. The pillars supporting the tiers are also handsomely ornamented with raised circling wreaths of leaves. The dress circle boxes are in white and gold, raised panels with real ornaments. [Goes on to describe more of the décor in the interior.]

The arrangements for illuminating this grand and extensive interior are on the most elaborate and liberal scale. In front of the proscenium boxes there are two large bronze chandeliers on each side, and extending outward from the railing of the second tier are a sufficient number of burners to brilliantly illum [sic] the whole of the parquette and parquette circle. Extending upward from the railing of the third tier, which encircles the auditorium, are fifteen or twenty candelabra containing five burners each. In addition to these a series of jets extends along the side walls of the third tier, which, with the burners contained in the dome overhead, combine convenience for illumination unsurpassed in any similar building in the country. The effect when lighted at night will be grand and marvelous.

Perhaps the most important adjunct, if not the principal feature of the new opera house, is the stage, which, with one exception, is the most spacious and commodious in the city. The proscenium is ten feet deep, and from the drop curtain to the rear wall of the theatre the stage is seventy feet deep by eighty feet wide, with a crest height of fifty feet. . . . The scenery, which is now in process of completion, under the supervision of W. Voetrip and Bernard Lewis, will be of the most elaborate and varied character. . . . The drop curtain, which is to represent the landing of Columbus, is being painted by Mr. F. Angero, and will be a marvel of richness in coloring and elaboration of detail and execution. . . .

The Opera House is designed to subserve two purposes, if necessary. The scenes are so arranged that they can be shifted entirely out of the way, leaving the stage clear for a transformation to a ball room or reception chamber. A false floor can also be placed over the seats in the parquette, extending from the footlights to about the fourth seat of the parquette circle, making an area sufficiently extensive to accommodate fully six hundred guests. When devoted to terpsichorean purposes, an elaborately designed arch is to be placed in the centre of the proscenium, extending from which to the extreme depth of the stage, on a line with the sides of the proscenium, will be eight massive ornamented columns of white and gilt. The spandrel will likewise be ornamented with carved designs in gilt, corresponding in color and style for all who are ‘weary of dance and play,’ the whole presenting from the auditorium a palace scene of unrivaled magnificence and splendor. It is the intention of Mr. Pike to inaugurate the Opera House about the middle of December with a grand ball, and it is understood that the building will be devoted to the Italian Opera, in which Madame La Grange will assume the leading part.

With peculiar good sense and forethought Mr. Pike has provided the most spacious and liberal accommodations for the entrance and exit of his patrons, and this he appears to have accomplished with an eye single to the safety and convenience of the amusement-going public. With one or two exceptions there is not a theatre in New York and but few in the United States where the safety of audiences is taken into consideration in the provision of suitable accommodations of this character. Although one of the most important adjuncts of a theatre or opera house, it is the one most frequently neglected, and often in the past a neglect that hass been attended with disastrous consequences. Experience and common sense have prompted Mr. Pike to make a liberal provision for his audiences in this respect.

[More on the exterior and size of the building.]

Ground was broken for this stately and magnificent structure in October last and the main building was enclosed in March. Since that time about one hundred workmen have been employed in various capacities about the work and now the enterprise approaches successful completion. The entire carpenter work has been under the direct superintendence and management of Mr. T.H. Vanderwerken, a veteran builder, and whose long service in Mr. Pike’s employ has entitled him to the fullest confidence and respect. The Opera House, it is confidently expected, will be completed by the middle of next month, and the corner building will be ready for occupancy a short time thereafter. The cost of all the structures completed will amount to fully one million dollars and will be one of the most perfect of the kind in the country.

Mr. S. N. Pike, the projector of this enterprise, is still a young man, apparently not more than thirty-eight years old. He has recently purchased a fine residence on Twenty-third street, near the Opera House, and intends to make New York his future home, although his numerous enterprises in Cincinnati will necessarily require much of his time and attention to be divided between the two cities. At the present time Mr. Pike is constructing a new concert room in Cincinnati, to be seventy-five by one hundred and twenty-eight feet, and to be finished in the most substantial and elegant manner. The cost of the structure when compelte will exceed half a million dollars, and the auditorium will accommodate fully 8,500 persons.

It must be confessed that Mr. Pike is possessed of considerable courage in locating his Opera House so far up town and so great a distance from the leading thoroughfare of the metropolis. Many apparently wise people are possessed of serious misgivings concerning the probable success of the enterprise by reason of its location; but there is reason to hope and beliee that the fears of these doubters will never be realized. The people of the west side are in the main cultivated and aesthetic in their tastes. They contributed largely to the support of the opera and drama, and many of them in order to gratify their tastes in this direction are obliged to travel distances which, in unpleasant seasons, are attended with serious inconveniences and annoyances. The new Eighth Avenue Opera House is designed to meet the demands of these persons, and we are confident in the belief that the enterprise and zeal displayed by Mr. Pike in furnishing a beautiful and stately temple of art to the amusement going public, will be correspondingly appreciated and patronized by the real patrons of music and the drama throughout the metropolis.”