faces of the future - Illuminating Engineering Society

PROJECT
The original lobby fixture, this six-armed gilded chandelier with globe glass
shades, was reconditioned and restored, with missing pieces recast for
authenticity. The murals were also cleaned and washed with LED light.
terra cotta, verdigris, wood graining
and gold. Stein pointed out how the
Tiffany-made stained-glass glows in
the fixtures at the top of the pilasters
on the orchestra and mezzanine levels.
Bunches of purple glass grapes
affixed to these upward tapered columns
seem to burst with light now
that they have been cleaned and
relighted from behind with LEDs.
“The equipment installed in 1906
took up a great deal of space inside
the column capitals and blocked the
removed and replaced with four 6-W
12-in. LED strips and four 3-W 6-in.
strips in each capital, a total of 36
watts each, a total of 180 watts, saving
3,020 watts.”
“The [column] capitals over the
box seating were given the same
treatment,” Jacobi continues. “There
were approximately 12 40-W lamps
in each of four fixtures, or 1,920
watts. We brought the total down to
118 watts by installing LED strips, a
saving of 1,802 watts.”
reflective surface, making it impossible
to light the lower half of the fixture,”
Jacobi says. There were four
40-W incandescent lamps on each
of the four surfaces of these fixtures
on the pilasters (640 watts per fixture)
MARQUEE ON THE MARK
Outside the theater, the new
marquee repeats details from the
original, but combines what had
been three sections into one con-
and there are five fixtures, for tinuous element that sparkles
a total of 3,200 watts. “I had them all when illuminate from 4 p.m until
Photo: Whitney Cox
midnight. Under the marquee’s
pressed tin ceiling, and the chase
lights around the perimeter, are
rows of 3-W cold-cathode lamps,
a total of 500 enclosed in glass
globes to evoke the look of traditional
incandescent bulbs. “By replacing
each 25-W lamp, we went
from 13,000 watts to 1,600,” Jacobi
says. There are now a total of 2,000
3-W cold-cathode lamps on the underside
of the marquee and on the
two-sided vertical “Belasco” sign
that identifies the theater.
Walking into the lobby reveals
new lighting there, as well. The original
chandelier was reconditioned
and restored, with missing pieces recast
for authenticity. The lobby décor
includes original leaded glass panels
in a circular bulls-eye pattern, also
restored by Femenella & Associates
and relighted from behind. Additional
fixtures over the ticket windows
add illumination to the lobby and the
carved cherubs that grace the lobby.
Broadway lighting designer Ken
Billington consulted on the lighting
of the restored murals on the first and
second floors, as well as the lounge
level and lobby. “Some of the murals
had been painted over in the 1950s
with white paint, totally hidden from
view. Others were coated with dirt
from a century of cigarette smoke
and dust,” Billington says. “Some of
the reflectors on the fixtures were
just black from age; they all needed
to be thoroughly cleaned.”
Once the murals were restored,
Billington specified the wall washes
to bring them to life. In the lobby,
he opted for a 2,700K white LED
system. “The lobby had never been
lighted like this before. You can
LD+A December 2010 75