THE SCENE OF GASTON LEROUX'S NOVEL, "THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA"
That Mr. Leroux has used, for the scene of his story, the Paris Opera
House as it really is and has not created a building out of his
imagination, is shown by this interesting description of it taken from
an article which appeared in Scribner's Magazine in 1879, a short time
after the building was completed: "The new Opera House, commenced under the Empire and finished under the
Republic, is the most complete building of the kind in the world and in
many respects the most beautiful. No European capital possesses an
opera house so comprehensive in plan and execution, and none can boast
an edifice equally vast and splendid.
"The site of the Opera House was chosen in 1861. It was determined to
lay the foundation exceptionally deep and strong. It was well known
that water would be met with, but it was impossible to foresee at what
depth or in what quantity it would be found. Exceptional depth also
was necessary, as the stage arrangements were to be such as to admit a
scene fifty feet high to be lowered on its frame. It was therefore
necessary to lay a foundation in a soil soaked with water which should
be sufficiently solid to sustain a weight of 22,000,000 pounds, and at
the same time to be perfectly dry, as the cellars were intended for the
storage of scenery and properties. While the work was in progress, the
excavation was kept free from water by means of eight pumps, worked by
steam power, and in operation, without interruption, day and night,
from March second to October thirteenth. The floor of the cellar was
covered with a layer of concrete, then with two coats of cement,
another layer of concrete and a coat of bitumen. The wall includes an
outer wall built as a coffer-dam, a brick wall, a coat of cement, and a
wall proper, a little over a yard thick. After all this was done the
whole was filled with water, in order that the fluid, by penetrating
into the most minute interstices, might deposit a sediment which would
close them more surely and perfectly than it would be possible to do by
hand. Twelve years elapsed before the completion of the building, and
during that time it was demonstrated that the precautions taken secured
absolute impermeability and solidity.
"The events of 1870 interrupted work just as it was about to be
prosecuted most vigorously, and the new Opera House was put to new and
unexpected uses. During the siege, it was converted into a vast
military storehouse and filled with a heterogeneous mass of goods.
After the siege the building fell into the hands of the Commune and the
roof was turned into a balloon station. The damage done, however, was
slight.