SM Adam volume 28/23

[25] Alternative design for the principal storey of the opera house, c1789, unexecuted

Plan of the principal storey of the opera house, with the central horse-shoe-shaped auditorium, formed with a curved north wall, and containing bench seating surrounded by boxes, with a passageway beyond. The passageway provides access to the assembly rooms (west) and to a further north passageway, which links to the east entrances. The stage is positioned to the south of the auditorium, and the proscenium is set with a columned screen. The wings and stage flats are shown to the east and west. To the south-east there is a green room, and to the south-west there is a painting room for scenery, both have entrances leading to the rear of the stage. The east front is formed with a balcony set before the paired, curved staircases forming the King’s stairs, and this is flanked by single-bay pavilions with tripartite windows. Beyond this the ten bays to the north are receding, with a central five-bay portico with paired exterior staircases. The nine-bay assembly room to the west is divided by columnar screens. There is a tripartite ceiling with a central square compartment ornamented with a rosette set within a band, encircled by festoons of calyx, a further band and with corner rosettes, and this is flanked by compartments ornamented with paterae, crossed with bands of calyx. This tripartite ceiling is paired with a further ceiling of the same design