Interior Park Theatre, New York City

The interior of the new Park Theatre, when it opened on September 1, 1821. Illustration published in the Annals of the New York Stage, Volume III, by George C.D. Odell, 1928. The same illustration, engraved by Lansing, was published in the front-page of the New-York Evening Post, September 1, 1821, with title: View of the Interior of the Park Theatre. The new Park Theatre opened for the first time on the evening of the same day.

There were four tiers of boxes. The form of the auditorium was that of a lyre, measuring at the stage boxes 52 ½ feet. The stage, at the drop curtain, was 38 feet wide and 70 feet deep from the front, and 40 feet to the ceiling. In each of the circles there were 14 boxes, supported by 15 small columns, 6 ft 6 inches in height. In the first tier, they were of burnished gold, the upper pillars were bronzed with gold, caps and bases. These columns receded 16 inched from the front, preventing the sight being obstructed. The decorations on the box fronts were in the Greek style, without division. Panels on the second tier were painted with figures representing boys with wreaths of flowers, supporting medallions of dramatic poets. The other tiers were also beautifully decorated. The ceiling was a flat surface painted in imitation of a dome opened to the sky, enriched with Greek elements. The proscenium was composed of four Doric columns 21 ½ ft high, painted in imitation of yellow marble, with white marble caps. The auditorium was lit with three chandeliers with 35 lamps, with those in the front of the stage and the side lights totaled 203 lamps.