About the Byrd Theatre & Foundation

The Byrd Theatre's architect made full use of the skill of master sculptor/plasterers like Ferruccio Legnaioli. Almost every surface of the theater is “enriched” with molded plaster carving: bead moldings, lamb’s tongue, bead-and-reel, acanthus, egg-and-dart, and palm-and-reed.

The eye is drawn by gilded details at key points: lyres at the first-floor niche keystones and inset in the spandrels of the proscenium arch, symbolizing the Fine Arts, and trophies made of torches and horns of plenty, symbolizing the abundance associated with the goddess Ceres. All moldings are either finished in a variety of metal leaf effects (silver, gold, or copper) or polychromed.

Two box seats to each side of the stage contain visible adjuncts of the Wurlitzer organ: a grand piano connected to the organ console, and a golden harp. The semi-circular boxes are framed by a set of secondary Ionic columns and include gold-finished balustrades topped with velvet. The lower portions of the walls are clad in a rusticated wainscot made of eye-catching Moroccan Rouge Flame marble with a highly-polished surface. Each of the angled elements containing the box seats are flanked by tall fluted pilasters with idiosyncratic golden Corinthian capitals.

The subdivisions of the side walls each contain two stories of openings that provide views into a painted garden setting just beyond the theater’s walls. A shallow elliptical dome spans the entire auditorium. The paneled corners of the ceiling are filled with Greek-inspired foliage and ornate central rondels that serve as air vents for the heat and air conditioning. The dome is divided by ornamented ribs into twelve textured plaster sections and surrounded by a molded crest of cartouches, cornucopias, and anthemions concealing continuous vari-colored cove lighting. The ribs support a circular plaster beam of matching shape. At each intersection is a pierced rondel, half of which exhaust heated or cooled air into the room below. The flat central field supports the ten-foot diameter main chandelier, equipped with four sets of colored lights to create special effects.

The interior decoration of the Byrd was executed by the Brounet Studios in New York, a well-known firm specializing in theater and lobby decoration. Arthur Brounet (1866- 1941), a native of Le Havre, France, studied art in France, Germany and Italy at various times in his life. He arrived in New York at the age of twenty. He was listed in the census of 1890 as a “decorator of arts” and in a directory of 1892 as an artist. He advertised as early as 1896 in the Real Estate Record and Builder’s Guide, notifying clients that he was a “designer in every style, Relief Work and Tapestry Painting,” and located at 678 Lexington Avenue in New York. The Brounet murals were painted at the studio in oil on canvas, which were then adhered to the plaster substrate.