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As the Seattle World's Fair Grounds Become The Seattle Center

OPERA HOUSE - PLAYHOUSE - ARENA

Van Cliburn at the Opera House,
April 21, 1962

Seattle's 3,100-seat Opera House, serving also as a concert-convention hall, was rebuilt from an older auditorium, not well suited to its uses. By utilizing the structural frame of the old building and rebuilding the rest, about $2 million was saved, and a better facility obtained.

The stage is 70 feet deep, with a modern gridiron covering the entire area. To provide modern seating, the main floor was changed to a parabolic bowl. Two parabolic concrete balconies were built, the upper carried with no supporting columns by a 110-foot span girder.

Outside, a new enclosure was built, tied in with the adjoining facilities. Now, a 700-foot colonnade stretches from one end of the complex to the other.

The Playhouse, seating 801 persons, has perhaps the finest acoustics of any theater in the United States. Its maximum sound reverberation time of 1.6 seconds is 20 per cent better than the next-ranked structure.

The Arena seats 5,500 persons, and is in constant use for programs ranging from hockey and skating to circuses.