returning to avalon to further record theater's moorish style polychromed ornament

during my second visit to chicago's atmospheric avalon theater, i spent the first few hours documenting any and all of the exterior terra cotta, primarily from the rooftop. the images below provide the viewer with the multitude of design motifs employed by eberson, along the polychromatic glazed finish (the terra cotta was executed by the american terra cotta company, chicago, ills. 

i spent the remainder of my time inside the auditorium, recording the original major equipment company spotlights, cove lighting, multi-colored lenses and any other lighting equipment installed around the time the theater was completed in 1927. i was pleasantly surprised that the lighting system remained largely intact (this includes the electric "stars" embedded in the ceiling's sky and undisturbed by renovations. most of the equipment was found deeply entrenched in and around the side-wall plaster scenery.

after taking stock of the existing lighting equipment, condition, and so on, i took several images from what i considered to be a unique vantage point. i was able to shoot the differently configured scenery along the opposite wall at eye level, along with the tented proscenium, etc. 

finally, i spent time carefully analyzing both the materials and methods of the brightly colored plaster ornament, including its coding system, which for this theater, used a combination of both numbers and letters to assist or guide the plasterers in assembling the many pieces into the configuration specified in the architects's blueprints. 

additional images taken from the west wall scenery:

three fragments found on the roof and/or plenum collected for surface analysis:

pages from a digitized period magazine highlighting john eberson's atmospheric theaters with emphasis on the avalon and the companies involved in supplying materials.