 The architect, Charles F. Whittlesey, and civil engineers John B. Leonard and C. R. Harris, created a building with a Spanish Gothic exterior and a vast auditorium with a simplified Art-Nouveau interior influenced by Louis Sullivan's Chicago Auditorium.Opened on November 7, 1906, with a performance of "Aida", this was the largest reinforced concrete structure with the only cantilevered balcony in the world.It had the largest stage west of New York when it was completed, and it seated 2,600 people.