rapp and rapp's oriental theater was one of two focal points during open house chicago

judging from numerous channels of feedback, it's rather obvious that "open house chicago" this year was a smashing success. i'm very pleased that so many residential and commercial structures opened their doors to the public for observation, appreciation and an endless stream of photographic images populating blogs, flickr, facebook and so on. although i have visited most of the listed sites in one form or another, i felt the need to participate. i was rather taken aback and pleasantly surprised by the long lines of visitors taking the time out of their busy schedules to have a peek into the exceptional architecture of chicago's past. hopefully the momentum seen this year will continue to grow over the years.

of all the incredible and historically important locations, i spent the majority of my time documenting the oriental theater and the henry b. clarke house. i've been reading quite a bit on the iroquois theater fire of 1903 and the chicago theaters designed by the notable architectural firm of rapp and rapp. the clarke house was an obvious choice based on my continued obsession with the pre-fire chicago john kent russell house i salvaged earlier this year. i was eager to do some comparing and contrasting of materials used in the construction of these two very early chicago homes.

there were a few other sites on my list to visit, but my ever-present back pain - greatly exacerbated by the two salvages quickly completed earlier this week - got the best of me, so i needed to take it easy. i did manage to use some of that "downtime" to continue researching the unusual foundation i discovered while the backhoe was pulling apart the rear cottage built long before the two-flat brick apartment located on the front section of the lot (more on this in a later post). in the meantime, i created a gallery of some of the photos i shot during while wandering around the oriental theater's interior. the polychromatic cast plaster ornament found throughout the lobby and auditorium was on the cusp of sensory overload for me. it certainly took me a great of time to digest the assemblage of distinctive designs in terms of execution, color treatments and how the "house" lighting accentuates or detracts from certain details to name a few.