SM Adam volume 28/24

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

Plan of the opera house, with a nineteen-bay east front, formed with paired columns flanking the central bay, and with projecting, single-bay, porticoed pavilions in the first, fifth, fifteenth and nineteenth bays. There is a central horse-shoe-shaped auditorium, with a curved north wall, and curved bench seating surrounded by boxes, with a passageway beyond. The passageway provides access to the east entrance, the oval ballroom (north) and the assembly rooms (west). The stage is positioned to the south of the auditorium, and the proscenium is set with a columnar screen. To the west there is a central octagonal room, flanked by apsidal ended rooms, and each has circular closets(?) To the north of the auditorium there is an oval, colonnaded ballroom, with corner apses and columnar screened entrances to the south, east and west. To the east of the ballroom there is a bifurcated staircase, leading to the east entrance. To the west there is a three-bay room, which leads to an apsidal-ended room with niches, and a vaulted space which links to the auditorium and a further staircase