The Curator’s Corner
The opening of the W.M. Davenport Family Balcony

Welcome once again to The Curator’s Corner. I am David Voelkel, Director of Historic Preservation and Chief Curator for The Byrd Theatre Foundation and writing to share with you an update on one of our completed projects – the opening of the W.M. Davenport Family Balcony at The Byrd Theatre!

Immediately following New Year’s Day, The Byrd Theatre Foundation’s contractors began the demolition of the balcony level theater seats thanks to the generosity of the W.M. Davenport family who provided the gap funding needed to realize this phase of the larger project.

American Made, Family Owned
For over a century, Irwin Seating Company has been manufacturing specialty seating for movie theaters across the United States. They supplied the seats for The Byrd Theatre main auditorium center section in 2018.

Once demolition and recycling were completed, the original decorated end aisle standards were carefully wrapped, packed, and shipped to Irwin Seating Company for retrofitting at their Michigan factory. The Lewis Brothers crew spent hours preparing the old painted concrete floors for the new red epoxy floor finish which came out beautifully. Anchor bolts and hardware from the old seats were carefully removed by Tim Wiley and his crew in preparation for patching holes and cracks in the 1928 cast concrete floors. Once everything was prepared, the team from Lewis Brothers worked diligently on the epoxy coating making what must be stressful, look fluid and easy. Following the final epoxy coating work, we were able to allow the floors to rest for a few weeks as we prepared to receive the tractor trailer shipment of seats. It was interesting to see the architecture of the space empty of seats (for the first time since 1928 I believe) and the sheer size of the balcony.

In early March, the Irwin Seating Company returned the cast iron end aisle standards along with dozens of additional cardboard boxes that contained the new seat backs, flip seats and associated parts and hardware – including cup holders. The installers had their work planned out for them and organized the boxes for unpacking and layout. Then the Junk Shuttle crew carefully removed all the packing materials for reuse and recycling. The team from Harris Electric returned for several days to install additional period lighting sourced by the curator to replace long-missing original fixtures, address issues with the 1928 Westinghouse lighting control panel, and connect the aisle lighting which presented some new challenges that they quickly created solutions for and solved. We are grateful for their commitment to the renovation and to all of our contractors and vendors who helped make this a reality.

The new seat backs and flip seats are in keeping with the original look and feel of the Byrd Theatre. The installation crew spent days assembling in place the seat components after they had drilled the concrete floors to accept the bolts and associated hardware. Additional repairs and upgrades were also begun and completed to support the planned upcoming patron use of the Balcony and the Upper Lobby areas and amenities. As a phased rehabilitation of a historic building, many areas have been carefully researched and addressed while knowing that there will be many more projects to be undertaken as funding and the restoration schedule advances over the next few years.

The new balcony seats are all wider than the original 19” wide American Seating Company seats and are comfortable as well as beautiful. These updated seats were designed to match the completed center section of the main auditorium. We are currently actively fundraising for the Pull Up A Seat appeal in order to complete the two side sections in The Reinhart Auditorium and hope that you will consider supporting this planned project so we can complete the work begun in 2017.

The Balcony at the start of the seat replacement project, January 2025

Irwin Seating Company delivery, March 2025

The Balcony with the original cast iron end aisle standards during reinstallation, March 2025

The Balcony ramp, Harris Electric Company electricians installing vintage light fixtures

The Balcony with new Irwin Seating Company seats during installation, March 2025

The W.M. Davenport Family Balcony bronze plaques by Noble Bronze, March 2025