The skylight and atrium at Chicago’s historic Auditorium Theatre will undergo a significant restoration project that aims to return key design elements to how architects Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler intended.

Leaders at the 135-year-old landmark theater located at 50 E. Ida B. Wells say they plan to update the building’s iconic 108-panel stained-glass skylight and the surrounding atrium, located directly above the main balcony.

“We know we’ve got our work cut out for us,” said architect Matt McNicholas, who is also an Auditorium board member. “We’re very excited about the way this is going to shock people, because it hasn’t been seen in anyone’s lifetime.”

The restoration, intended to wrap by fall 2027, will total nearly $3 million and be funded by donations from local organizations and a prestigious $625,000 federal grant from the National Park Service, known as the Saving America’s Treasures grant.

The renovation project will allow for sunlight to shine through the stained-glass panels for the first time in the building’s history, according to McNicholas.

The panels, designed by stained glass artists George Healy and Louis Millet in 1889, were crafted from jewels and feature organic shapes inspired by nature, intertwined with elaborate knot patterns. They became popular thanks to Sullivan’s signature neo-Celtic style that defined much of the Chicago architecture of that era.

This archival image of the Auditorium Theatre from the early 1900s showcases the original stencilwork on the theater’s atrium walls.

Provided by the Auditorium Theatre

Healy and Millet’s panels were so impressive the pair exhibited them at the Paris World’s Fair of 1889 to showcase Chicago’s architectural innovation, and their work forever changed how the rest of the world sees stained glass.

According to McNicholas, crews will also work to restore the signature Celtic stenciling found on the atrium’s walls, designed by Sullivan. His stencils decorate the walls and floors of the entire building, but for decades, eight layers of paint have covered the ones hidden along the atrium walls. Those originals likely have not been seen since the 1920s, McNicholas said.

During the discovery phase of the project, preservationists used a meticulous chemical process to carefully expose the stencils. They also mapped out what everything would have looked like when it opened to the public in 1889, said Auditorium Theatre CEO Rich Regan.

Next summer, a large work deck will be suspended from the atrium to safely prepare all the surfaces for new stencil, paint and gilding applications. The restoration crew will address the stained glass at the same time, Regan added.

During a restoration project in 1967, the building closed for more than a year. However, thanks to modern systems such as the platform Regan mentioned, the theater can remain open through the end of this renovation project.

As one of the country’s last remaining buildings by Sullivan and Adler, the Auditorium leaders hope the theater can serve as a leading example of preservation for other historic structures nationwide at risk of destruction or neglect.

Matt McNicholas, an architect and a voluntary board member at the Auditorium Theatre.

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“It’s about the history and the presence [of] this theater … and the ideas of democracy behind the design,” McNicholas said, referring to the way the box seats were built on the left and right sides of the house, instead of directly in the front.

When the Auditorium Theatre opened in 1889, it was the tallest building in the United States at the time. Because it’s such an old structure and the wear and tear of time, temperature and limited resources, the theater is consequently in a “constant state of restoration,” Regan said.

Over the past several years, various parts of the building have received updates. With a total capacity of 3,875, every seat in the house got an update, including those in the private boxes. The Auditorium also has new sound, lighting and HVAC systems.

A view of the peeling paint on the atrium walls at the Auditorium Theatre.

Provided

Sullivan’s partnership with Dankmar Adler is regarded as one of the most influential in American history. The pair officially began working together on the Auditorium in 1886 with the help of Frank Lloyd Wright, a then 22-year-old intern who went on to become a significant figure in architecture on his own.

Regan said he hopes the men who worked on the building in the late 1800s would be amazed the Auditorium Theatre is still standing today.

“Many of their other structures throughout the city were torn down. They would be amazed to see that the Auditorium is not just standing but operating, filled with shows and restoration work,” he said.

During a walk through of the project, the sounds of Americana guitarist and singer-songwriter Boz Scaggs floated up to the atrium as his band sound checked for a concert that night.

“We’re a resource for the community,” Regan said, “whether it’s music or whether it’s comedy, or whether it’s spoken word, or whether it’s acting, we have such variety here.”

“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” was hosted at the Auditorium Theatre during the week of the Democratic National Convention in 2024.

Justine Tobiasz/WBEZ

Recent events include a sold-out series of David Byrne concerts and a conversation with former Vice President Kamala Harris on the topic of her new political memoir, “107 Days.”

The venue has also been the stage for several former U.S. presidents who were nominated by their respective parties, such as Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt in 1912 by the Bull Moose Party.

“The history that has happened within the walls here is just incredible,” McNicholas said, adding it goes beyond the physical structure of the place. Roosevelt gave his famous Armageddon speech, during which he told the audience: “… the time is ripe, and overripe, for a genuine Progressive movement.”

And during the 1916 Republican National Convention, the Congressional Union for Woman Suffrage introduced the Susan B. Anthony Amendment, also known as the 19th Amendment, which would effectively grant women the right to vote.