Several years ago, I was lucky enough to help out with one of the preservation groups for this theatre. Even then, the seats were long gone, as was the marquee and original entry doors. Despite those losses, there was still much of interest inside the theatre. The lobby had its original tiled floor, as well as lots of decoratve plaster work.
In the theatre itself, much of the plaster had fallen from the walls and ceilings, but I spent several hours scraping black paint from intricate plaster around a doorway. To the side of the stage were three dressing rooms, stacked on top of each other like little apartments. The walls of these were covered in pencil grafitti; names, dates, signatures, and poetry were scribbled on the walls by visiting actors and actresses. Some of these dated back to the late 20s.
Undeneath the stage were several rooms, one of which had been used for coal storage. The original coal furnace was still there as well. Passages under the theatre floor led to the lobby and underneath the storefronts.
Upstairs was the balcony (which was structurally damaged), a control room, and some offices.
To me, the greatest tragedy of this theatre was that none of its finer details were salvaged (at least not that I know of). The glass window was beautiful, as were the lobby tiles and terra cotta and plaster ornamentation. The “signature walls” could have made excellent museum artifacts. So much more could have been done to preserve this theatre’s memory, if not its physical structure.
Several years ago, I was lucky enough to help out with one of the preservation groups for this theatre. Even then, the seats were long gone, as was the marquee and original entry doors. Despite those losses, there was still much of interest inside the theatre. The lobby had its original tiled floor, as well as lots of decoratve plaster work.
In the theatre itself, much of the plaster had fallen from the walls and ceilings, but I spent several hours scraping black paint from intricate plaster around a doorway. To the side of the stage were three dressing rooms, stacked on top of each other like little apartments. The walls of these were covered in pencil grafitti; names, dates, signatures, and poetry were scribbled on the walls by visiting actors and actresses. Some of these dated back to the late 20s.
Undeneath the stage were several rooms, one of which had been used for coal storage. The original coal furnace was still there as well. Passages under the theatre floor led to the lobby and underneath the storefronts.
Upstairs was the balcony (which was structurally damaged), a control room, and some offices.
To me, the greatest tragedy of this theatre was that none of its finer details were salvaged (at least not that I know of). The glass window was beautiful, as were the lobby tiles and terra cotta and plaster ornamentation. The “signature walls” could have made excellent museum artifacts. So much more could have been done to preserve this theatre’s memory, if not its physical structure.