Auditorium from Stage to Balcony

1930

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Auditorium from Stage to Balcony
  • Title
  • Auditorium from Stage to Balcony
  • Creator
  • Trinity Court Studios
  • Identifier
  • MSP57.B001.F09.I01
  • Source Identifier
  • MSP57.B001.F09.I01
  • Description
  • Caption on the back of the photograph reads, “The intellectual beauty of the foyer may be compared with the more emotional atmosphere of the auditorium. Here the architect commands his entire conception without extraneous ornament. Every aspect of the design is an integral part of the structure. The wedge-shaped floor plan insures clear vision from every one of the chairs. The eyes perceive five elements of the theater: The stage, which is the reason for the room’s being; the great decorative plaster grills on either side of the stage which frame the front of the house; the four large side panels set within pilaster-like framing; the four main parts spanning the ceiling to meet these side panels, and the mural paintings which are placed around the theater’s balcony. These paintings bind together walls, ceiling, and floor, with its hundreds of pomegranate colored chairs in the balcony and orchestra. From the mural paintings in the balcony, with their design of Gargantuan shadow flowers edged with silver, the eye passes over into the four main side panels which are lusterous textiles, intimating the pomegranate color of the chairs, softening the metalic effect of the stepped-back pilasters and suggesting the design of the plaster relief work on the stage framing. The transition from mural paintings to textile fillets and on to decoration in plaster relief, proceeds vigorously. The ceiling panels, painted with fugitive, conventionalized flower petals in silver, gold and bronze, are divided by intricate plaster relief work similarly colored. Unnumbered thousands of aluminum filaments were the basis for this magnificent palette. The mutations into gold and copper were contrived by French laquer. One must realize surface of walls and ceiling as a vast and vibrant mural arrangement. The auditorium is fully equipped as a theater, has a complete pipe organ and accommodates 3,000 people.”
  • Genre
  • photographs
  • Subject
  • H.J. Heinz Company.
    H.J. Heinz Company (Pittsburgh, Pa.).Auditorium.
    Auditoriums--Pennsylvania--Pittsburgh.
  • Source
  • H.J. Heinz Company, Photographs, 1864-1991, MSP 57, Library and Archives Division, Senator John Heinz History Center
  • Contributor
  • Detre Library & Archives, Heinz History Center
  • Collection
  • H.J. Heinz Company Photographs
  • Rights Information
  • In Copyright. This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).. Rights Holder: Senator John Heinz History Center
    http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
  • Rights Holder
  • Senator John Heinz History Center