See also select measured drawings of the building,
recently completed by the Historic American Buildings Survey
on our HABS Drawings page

A. Photograph by Boris Starosta, 2003.

The Cyclorama Gallery sits atop a tiled cylinder (at right). The ramp leading to the painting is surrounded by stainless-steel tubes; brilliant flashes of light from the battlefield (at left) confront visitors as they ascend the ramp. Indirect interior lighting and reflective surfaces contribute to the quiet atmosphere of a memorial.

 

B. Photograph by Boris Starosta, 2003.

View of the ramp leading to the Cyclorama Gallery, illuminated by a curving path of light, which directs visitors to the painting. The exhibit area is visible beyond the wall of stainless-steel tubes. The interior is remarkably intact, with virtually no changes to the structure.

 

C. Photograph by Boris Starosta, 2003.

The window and auditorium walls (at perpendicular angles here) rolled back to reveal the rolling landscapes in front of the elevated "Rostrum of the Prophetic Voice" (behind bust of Lincoln, added later).

 

D. Photograph by Boris Starosta, 2003.

A "sky-bridge" with transluscent-panel balustrades leads from the Cyclorama Gallery ramp to the second floor lobby and out onto the rooftop viewing platform overlooking the battlefield.

E. Drawing by Neutra and Alexander for the National Park Service, 24 April 1958. Aerial View Scheme J. Courtesy National Park Service.

Neutra's first sketches for the building show a tower between the office wing and rotunda. This area adjacent to Zeigler's Grove was long utilized as a viewing area for the battlefield. An Army Corps of Engineers tower on the site, accessible only by steep flights of stairs, was demolished during construction of the Cyclorama Center.

 

F. Photograph by Boris Starosta, 2003.

Second floor lobby with concrete ramp leading to rooftop viewing platform (outside at right).

 

H. Photograph by Christine Madrid French, 1999.

View of the battlefield from the roof of the building. General Meade's Headquarters at center.

I. Photograph by Boris Starosta, 2003.

Despite the National Park Service claims of historic landscape integrity to be achieved with the removal of the Cyclorama Building, a profusion of commercial establishments sits just across the street. None of these buildings are to be removed in the Park Service management plan.

 

J. Photograph by Christine Madrid French, 1999.

View of the rotunda and auditorium wall with the office wing to the left. The concrete is ribbed and painted. Silica sand was added to the paint to refract light.

K. Photograph by Jack Boucher, 1962, National Park Service.

L. Photograph by Christine Madrid French, 1999.

The two-story glass windows and second floor lobby (above and right) provided an open view for interpretation of the battlefield in adverse weather conditions. The automated, moveable sun louvers extended the length of the office wing.

M. Courtesy National Park Service.

N. Courtesy National Park Service.

O. Courtesy National Park Service. Detail of this drawing is at right...

P. Courtesy National Park Service.

Q. Courtesy National Park Service.

Bethlehem Steel provided the cables supporting the clear-span of the Cyclorama gallery. From Bethlehem Steel: "Neither a cable-supported nor a cable-suspended roof structure...an 18-ft-high center column is the hub of this hung roof. Steel purlins radiate outward from its upper end, and bridge strands from the lower. The assemblies are 1 3/4-in zinc-coated bridge strand, mesuring 58 ft 1 11/16 in. from center to center of pins in the attached open type sockets. All structural steel was raised before construction of the roof began. Then the cables were strung from the base of the 18-ft center-column hub to connectors about the top of the perimeter of the wall."

R. Photograph by Jack Boucher, 1962, National Park Service.
Jr. Ranger learning about Gettysburg.

 

S. Photograph by Jack Boucher, 1962, National Park Service.