Norman's New Orleans and Environs / Containing a Brief Historical Sketch of the Territory and State of Louisiana and the City of New Orleans, from the Earliest Period to the Present Time

by Benjamin Moore Norman

THE AMERICAN THEATRE

Burnt on the 30th of July, 1842, was rebuilt and reopened on the 5th of December following, at a cost of $28,000. The building is ninety by one hundred and fifty feet, and sufficiently elevated for all the purposes of the drama, but irregular in its altitude. The depth of the stage is sixty feet, and the width of the proscenium thirty-eight. The house will accommodate over fifteen hundred persons. It stands near Lafayette square, on Poydras street; and, from its isolated position, presents quite an imposing appearance.