Restoration of Shubert Theater Historic Light Fixtures Begins

The Shubert Theater of New Haven, CT is currently undergoing renovations and Grand Light has been contracted to restore all of the lighting fixtures back to their earlier state.

There are several different fixtures in varying levels of condition on this job. There are 17 two-light brass wall sconces, 5 hanging pendants, 18 large flush mounted pendant fixture, 9 small flush mounted fixtures, and 9 one-light wall sconces.

Pictured above are the 17 two-light wall sconces. The fixtures will be cleaned, re-wired, and given new sockets.

The two light sconces, dissembled, cleaned, and prepped for rewiring.

These are the one-light sconces which have begun to undergo the same process in which the two-light sconces will.

There are 17 of the flush-mounted ceiling fixtures pictured above. Over the years, they have suffered broken panels and severe frame and cage damage. Due to excessive heat from the fixture lamp, and over tightening of the bottom mounting screw, the cages on these fixtures had bent away from the glass, broken, as well as several cage straps missing. Our objective is to reshape the fixtures by pulling the cages back out to their original shape without causing any further damage.

Missing components include interior straps which hold the glass in from the inside, decorative straps in which the glass sits on from the inside, and decorative filagree along the edges. On most pieces, the glass had been siliconed in to hold the fixture together and to prevent light leaks which had developed due to the bends that were occurring on the frames.

Pictured above is one of many of the fixtures. Once the glass was removed the brittle frames collapsed, forcing the complete reconstruction of the cages.

In order to completely reconstruct the frames, exact replications of the original components have to be made. Shown above is one component mold made of plaster of paris.

New components are then pieced back together, duplicating the look of the original fixtures, yet greatly improving their strength. This process will also be used on the small flush mounted fixtures which look exactly like these.

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