Dancing On (actually, under) the Ceiling
This past week I got a rare opportunity to get up-close-and-personal with the ceiling at The Grand. In preparation for the work to come, contractors have now finished the work platform in the auditorium. Basically, it’s a scaffold system that covers the entire auditorium and creates a working space about eight feet or so below the ceiling. It’s from here that documentation and then removal of the ceiling will take place.
I’m not normally the type to go climbing 30 feet into the air on a scaffold, no mater how safe it may be. But let’s face it, I’ve been doing this kind of work for almost 30 years, and this is the first time (and hopefully, the only time) that I’ve had a chance like this. So….up I went. It was pretty disconcerting the first time and I confess, I was walking very gingerly up there. Once I got there, though, the view was amazing. It became crystal clear that all the work that we’re doing, all the support we’ve gotten from the community and the city/county/state, were well worth it and very necessary. I can’t describe—I’ve tried— how significant the deflection (sag) in the ceiling truly is, when you get a perspective 8 feet, rather than 35 feet below. Thank goodness this is getting done, and quickly.
The more I made the climb, the more comfortable I became. I spent some time up there with the principals involved—contractors, engineers, city representatives. I took some time with Max Hermans of Thompson Photo Imagery, who very generously has been taking photos of the whole operation. Max spent, literally, hours on his back last week, photographing the ceiling, section by section. Then I spent some time up there with artisans from the subcontractor responsible for documenting and then replicating or restoring the artistic elements of the ceiling structure (the cherubs, the wall coves, the logo, and of course, Shakespeare over the proscenium arch), and they had their time to document these things in their place. I was up there again, this time to supervise the removal of several of those elements- the ones that are on canvas- so that they could be stored and available for the artists as needed. By the end of the week, I got even more comfortable—making sure that staff got to share in this unique up-close look, and now I’m just bounding up that scaffold (ok, not exactly, but I am no longer creeping up)!
Still to come, a closer look at the wooden soffits (we’d call them “beams” when we saw them from below) that are original 1883 materials and which we hope to preserve; and soon, the actual demolition will begin, section by section, with the truss repair to follow. So although there is not much to see from the outside (and won’t be, as the roof deck itself is to remain intact), there is a lot going on inside The Grand.
Finally, the up-close view really made me appreciate the work that the people in the 1980s did to restore the hall. It took a lot of vision to put together the intricate patterns that were created with wallcoverings, in addition to the artwork itself. I’m really grateful to have had the opportunity to “touch the ceiling”!
