Page "Ocean Grove, New Jersey" Paragraph 17

The Great Auditorium is mostly unchanged after being constructed in 1894 on bridge-like iron trusses laid on stone foundations.

Aside from the trusses, the structure is made entirely of wood.

The building features numerous " barn door " entrances with colored glass, dormers, and panels that open for ventilation.

The present audience seating accommodates 6, 250, though the original arrangement was closer to 10, 000.

The curving ceiling allowed a preacher to be heard throughout the vast space in the days prior to amplification.

The building still features lighting systems quite advanced for their time, such as the parallel rows of incandescent bulbs that adorn the varnished wood ceiling paneling.

Also novel is a large American flag ( c. 1916 ) covered with light bulbs that flash in an undulating manner.

Illuminated signs, possibly some of the oldest surviving of that type, flanking the organ's pipework, proclaim " Holiness to the Lord " and " So be ye holy ," a reflection of the emphasis at camp meetings.

Another such reflection is the illuminated Memorial Cross, placed on the Auditorium's front facade at the end of World War II.