EMPIRE restoration

My work on the final phase of the restoration began in May, 1997. The first thing for me was analyzing the (plaster) damage to be repaired and forming a plan for removal, refinement, reproduction, and replacement of the elements that needed to be added or rebuilt according to Milton's plan. The Renaissance Revival interior was certainly in need of much attention. There were also several areas needing the removal of existing ornament in order to install structural members to accommodate features necessary to bring the theatre into the nineties.

For instance, a guard rail at the first and second balcony levels was needed to meet code requirements, and this required the removal of some rosettes on the balcony faces to allow room for welders to work behind the ornamentation.

Lighting inside the rosettes, (160 rosettes), all needed rewiring. Removal of the wiring from 1914 ultimately destroyed all but four of the rosettes. This was an additional work load added to an already crowded schedule for me. I now needed to recast 156 rosettes instead of the original 24 that were removed for the welding project. Originally I was replacing the rosettes and adjoining leaves one at a time. The volume required now forced me to build a new mold that would allow me to cast the rosettes four at a time. Each section would now be 48" long. A significant reduction in production time as well as installation time resulted. An image of this is available by clicking.

If you viewed the image of the rosettes during the installation, you were able to see the ironwork projecting vertically at the top. You will also see the band of eggs and tulips below the rosettes. I believe there was a total of about sixty of these egg and tulip embellishments replaced. The profiled ledge running horizontally below the rosettes was damaged in many areas, and needed to be removed in several other areas. The profile at the edge of the soffit, below the eggs, does not show up very well in this picture, but it was also damaged in many areas, and was repaired in place with mitre rods passed down to me by my father and grandfather.

Eventually images will be published here of these ornaments with the final decoration in place.

Another area needing structural work behind the ornamentation was at the sides of the vertical band at the box seat surrounds. An example of this band, actually three bands, can be seen if you click here. The band of masks, cornucopias, etc in the center, the two flat yellow areas on each side, and the gold powdered and copper powdered bands at each side of the yellow needed to be removed and replaced after welding was done for a structure to support parts of the new sound system. The picture you viewed is not the actual areas removed, just an example. I will publish the actual areas eventually as the digital images become available. A section about fifteen feet top to bottom was removed at each of the two box surrounds.

This story will continue soon, as there is much more. My work on this phase took place between June of 1997, and April 2, 1998. At one point I worked two hundred and forty days in a row. When the architects published their punch list, I did not have even one item on the list.

02/28/1999. t.m. battersby.

The front doors finally reopened on April 02, 1998, with about 850 Seats, under the watchful eye of Kirk Feldman and ACE Enterprises. to be cont.