historic nortown theater interior & exterior artifact salvage - chicago, il
i spent nearly 5 months removing artifacts from this theater. dark, damp and dilapidated , i pressed on, determined to save as much as humanly possible. to this day, i can vividly hear the roar of the generators to provide me w/ light and power to my tools. the first phase involved the interior -- primarily the lobby. here, i removed plaster from both 1st and 2nd floors. the decorative cast iron staircase came out as well. the lighting and murals had been taken long ago. while removing the plaster components, i discovered newspapers (c. 1931), grease-stained hot dog wrappers, trowels & hershey chocolate wrappers. interestingly, each panel was stamped by a decorator supply co. that presumably, crafted the ornament in their studios. at the job site, plasterers put the pieces together w. hemp fibers, metal mesh and wood reinforcement. i discovered that nearly the entire lobby was originally finished in gold leaf. phase one then extended into the auditorium, where plaster elements from the proscenium and side walls were removed . to my surprise, i discovered several accent lights or "cove lights" w/ cobalt blue lenses. these were made by the major electrical co. i have discovered these yet again in a theater salvaged on the westside of chicago. phase two focused on the exterior facade, containing the decorative terra cotta. sadly, a good percentage of the ornament was damaged prior to removal. the neglect or lack of maintenance allowed water to seep in behind the panels over the years. cycles of temperature fluctuation caused several panels to crack. i chose instead, to direct my efforts toward the musical muse panels above the five bays and the comedy and tragedy panels found along the lower section of the facade -- in the form of a repeating frieze. for the majority of the removal , i simply cut the anchors, removed the mortar and "bear hugged" the panels one by one, down my ladder. the oppressive august heat made the task somewhat daunting. nonetheless, i saved all the panels. a set of the theater masks will be displayed in our building artifact museum. overall the work was brutal, but incredibly rewarding, if that makes sense... the theater was built in 1931 w/ j.e.o. pridmore as the architect. Inventory number: UR-1280-07
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