21 Apr a thursday afternoon lecture and photo shoot at the auditorium building

on thursday afternoon (last week) i attended an interesting lecture given by my friend and colleague bart swindall at the auditorium building. the topic of discussion revolved around artifacts that were removed or went “missing” from the building’s theater and hotel over the course of 125 years.

for nearly 45 minutes, mr. swindall discussed notable and often heart-breaking alterations and renovations where artifacts or “treasures” were removed and presumably sent to the landfill. however, there were a number of small victories revealed, which included the discovery of an elegantly designed mosaic fireplace surround, a gorham silver centerpiece from the banquet hall and other odds and ends that bart managed to track down during his long tenure as the auditorium theater’s historian.

prior to my departure after the lecture drew to a close, i spent some time with camera in hand, photodocumenting the grand staircase and lobby area. i’ve included a sampling from that shoot.

on monday, i will be meeting with mr. swindall to freely explore and document the theater with very little, if any restrictions. i’m very much looking forward to this visit and will certainly post several images after i eagerly get them into my computer and edited for presentation.

on wednesday afternoon (of this week) i will be returning to the chicago athletic club to document a newly discovered architectural component (original to cobb’s building) that has been hidden for several decades due to numerous remuddlings.

stay tuned…