A Theatre Auditorium Turned into a Ball-room at a Moment's Notice.

Progress, Volume II, Issue 11, 2 September 1907, Page 406

A Theatre Auditorium Turned into a Ball-room at a Moment's Notice.

The problem of a ball-room sufficiently large to house a considerable number of dancers or to provide space for banquet tables, has been solved in a more or less satisfactory manner by boarding over the orchestra and parterre of the theatre or opera house. Such makeshift is necessarily clumsy and unsatisfactory. Horses framing, and boarding must be stored at all times, affording excellent food for fire, and much time and expense are entailed in erecting the flimsy temporary structure each time it is used A French inventor, Dr. Eugene Graveiotte, conceived the rather brilliant idea of applying the principle of j^the waffle iron to the floors of theatres, and a new Paris music-hall in the Rue de Clichy has been provided with this somersaulting orchestra floor, which can be changed in seven minutes, from the usual conventional inclined floor with comfortable chairs, to a horizontal, highly-polished dancefloor. The carcass which holds the twin floors in a parallel position revolves about a horizontal axis in a pit permitting of a complete revolution. The dimensions of the revoluble sections of the floor are as follows : Length 53 feet, width

50 feet, and the depth of the pit is 30 feet. Metallic trunnions, or pivots, are secured to the carcass. On one of the two twin floors are nineteen rows of orchestra chairs. There is a difference in level of some seven feet when the dance floor is in use Steps lead down from the foyer. The mechanism for making the transformation is very simple. Up over

the proscenium are motors which actuate drums, around which are roved steel cables, which are in turn roved around the trunnions. The principle is the same as winding a string upon a lead pencil. When the string is pulled the pencil revolves. The total weight of the construction is 90 tons, yet so well is the floor balanced that a two-

horse-power motor is all that is required, and the cost of operation is only eight cents for each transformation. The installation cost the moderate sum of 14,000d01.

The foundations for the first section of the ferro-concrete block of offices in Panama street, for Mr. W. H. Sefton Moorhouse, are now well in hand . The plans show a substantial four-story block with a simple, but dignified, facade to Panama street, Wellington. The ground and first floors both contain suitable offices and strong rooms (six in all) fitted with Chubb's doors The building will be entirely of concrete and steel, Kahn bars being used principally for the

beams, expanded steel for the floors and walls, and for the roof, which is to be flat. Architect, C. Tilleard Natusch : contractor, Wm. Glendinning, Palmerston North. ** # * A block of three shops and dwellings with outbuildings, in Court enay place, Wellington, for Mr. F. Louden, has recently been completed. Each shop is 12 feet high, finished with red pine on walls, and steel ceilings. Each dwelling contains living rooms whilst the outbuildings consist of wash-house, etc., with all conveniences. The roof over the whole block is flat, and has been covered with Malthoid P. and B. ready roofing. Architect, C. Tilleard Natusch : contractors, Sykes and Harwood, Lower Hutt.