Chicago by day and night

by Harold R. Vynne

The Auditorium Hotel, mention of which has been made in a previous chapter, fronts on Michigan Avenue and occupies the upper floor of the building, the colossal outlines and massive architecture of which, rivaling as they do the ancient Coliseum of Rome, strike the beholder dumb with admiration. The stock company that constructed the Auditorium was formed at Mr. Peck’s suggestion in the spring of 1886, and in January of the following year work was commenced upon it. Less than eighteen months afterward the building had progressed to a stage that made it possible to hold the National Convention of 1888 under the roof of the great theater. On that occasion 12,000 people cheered the nomination of Harrison as the presidential candidate. The formal dedication of the great structure took place December 9, 1889. The star of the occasion was Adelina Patti, the world-famous singer, who, although she had dyed her hair a brilliant red, aroused a cyclone of enthusiasm by her time-honored rendition of “Home, Sweet Home.” Speeches were made by Benjamin Harrison, President of the United States; by DeWitt C. Cregier, then Mayor of Chicago; by Ferd W. Peck, President of the Auditorium Company, and others. It required an expenditure of nearly $2,000,000 in hard cash to erect the Auditorium, and the men who invested their money in the project are drawing a fair interest on the amount of their wise venture. The building has a frontage of 187 feet on Michigan Avenue, 361 feet on Congress Street, and 161 feet on Wabash Avenue. The material used is mostly American granite from Maine and Minnesota; the ornamentation being largely in Mexican onyx. To the visitor who stands rapt in admiration at the sight of this superb edifice, a few figures may not be uninteresting. The main building is 144 feet in height; the tower on the Congress Street side, 225 feet, with lateral dimensions of 40 x 71 feet. The building weighs in its entirety 110,000 tons. There are 17,000,000 brick in the building and 50,000,000 pieces of marble. The flooring is in Antique Mosaic.

Now for the theater itself, which is, after all, the main interior attraction of the Auditorium, the smaller halls and office suites which are contained in the main structure possessing only a commercial interest. The theater has a regular seating capacity of 4,000, though when it is arranged for a convention or a ball it will hold three times that number. The stage is ninety-eight feet in width and 6,862 square feet in area. The great lobby with its massive pillars and porticos, prepares the visitor for the sublime magnificence of the immense audience chamber. The ceiling, which is decorated in white and gold, glitters with a myriad of electric lamps and the spectacular effect, when the house is filled with a fashionable audience, the long tiers of boxes gleaming with the brilliant costumes and jewels of scores of handsome women, surpasses description. It must be seen to be appreciated. The Auditorium theater is equipped, among other things, with an organ that is said to be the finest and most complete in the world, possessing as it does, 7,193 pipes.

But without question the tower is a stupendous feature of the Auditorium and is most popular with strangers; it may be said that no stranger should leave the city without visiting it. Enter from the Congress Street side and purchase a ticket at the box office, costing twenty-five cents. The elevator carries you up at rapid speed to the top. The final ascent is made by a small flight of iron stairs and the tower is reached. The splendor of the view from this tower can be imagined but not described. On a clear day the Michigan shore is discernible far away over the blue water of the lake, while on the east side, north and south the eye may penetrate to the furthest limits of the city. To stand there and look down on the mazes of buildings and the swarming thousands of your fellowmen produces a strange feeling of awe and wonderment. The popularity of the tower with sight-seers may be imagined from the fact that the attendance brings in an average of $120 per day to the company throughout the year.

Preparations are now in progress for the presentation at the Auditorium during the World’s Fair year of a theatrical spectacle which shall eclipse anything of the kind ever before seen in any country. The plans are yet in embryo, but a rough outline has been drawn. The production, which is to be historical in character, will be under the direction of Managers Adams, Abbey and Grau. It will open in the spring of 1893, and run through the World’s Fair season.

The New German Theater on Randolph Street, between Dearborn and Clark, deserves special mention by reason of the fact that it will be the youngest of all Chicago first-class theaters, and because great promises have been made as to the magnificence of its furnishings and equipment. The structure is fire-proof, nine stories in height with a large square tower fifteen feet in height surmounted by a cupola. The main building fronts eighty-four feet on Randolph Street with a depth of 186½ feet. There will be a covered balcony in front from which street parades may be advantageously viewed. The cornices, balustrades and other parts of the building are decorated with rich carvings. The construction is of steel columns and cross-beams, the outer walls being in terra cotta. The main entrance leading to the theater is thirty-two feet wide. All the floors and wainscoting are in polished marble. From the entrance to the theater foyer will extend two vestibules, in the inner one of which the box office is located. Four passenger elevators furnish access to the hotel and club rooms of which the main portion of the palatial structure will consist. Broad marble stairs lead from the foyer to the main floor, balcony and gallery of the theater, the Auditorium plan of seating the people having been decided upon. The theater will seat 1,300 people. The stage has a superficial area of 3,200 square feet, with a proscenium arch twenty-nine feet wide and thirty feet high.

Seven stories of the building are devoted to the hotel, which also deserves a word of description. There are 131 guest chambers, 39 bath rooms, a dining room 76 feet long by 49 wide, and other features. The hotel will of course have a separate entrance. Club, billiard, card, and other rooms occupy the tenth floor. The eleventh is devoted to a fine ball-room, separate quarters being provided for the servants on the floors above.

The total cost of this fine structure is estimated at $600,000, inclusive of the price paid for the ground. The building is erected by a company of which the following well-known citizens are directors: A. C. Hesing, Theodore Arnold, Louis Wolff, Edward Eiblein, Franz Amberg, Charles Wacker, C. P. Dose, Louis Wampold, J. A. Orb, Joseph Scheurer, William Heineman, George E. Weiss, John M. Krause, C. Herman Plautz, and Theodore Oehne.

It goes without saying that this will be an attractive place for strangers to visit.

CHAPTER IV.
TWO UNIQUE PLAYHOUSES.