I visited the Princess today and she's pretty much stripped down to her skeleton, or as close to it as necessary to bring her back to life. It's now time for the real restoration work to begin.
The plan is to put her back as she was in 1939, or as close to how she debuted after the second fire as possible. However, everything will be modernized and brought up to today's codes. It won't be an easy job, because all we have to go by are old handbill drawings. No actual photos exist, or at least none have been found.
The auditorium will soon be filled with scaffolding so the lighting and ceiling can be restored, as well as the walls. This will be a very exciting time, especially for me, because I can then begin the real documentation of the restoration. These photos can be used years in the future at such a time another restoration begins.
I predict that the Princess, this time around, will get even more use than before. She will be teaching our children the arts and entertaining us in more different ways than ever.
Click on the photos to enlarge!
Click on the photos to enlarge!