Building Description Indiana Theatre, Indianapolis Indiana

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The building measures 125'4" (three principal bays, each sub-divided Into three minor bays) by 195'. The basement extends underneath front sidewalk for about 20' beyond building line. Five stories with sixth story concealed behind high blind attic.

The white terra cotta south (front) elevation of the theatre has three horizontal zones, a base below the marquee that almost spans the front, a tall four-storied middle section, and an upper zone designed as a high parapet, or blind attic course, above an entablature motif. Vertically, the facade is divided into three principal bays, each subdivided. The main feature of the composition is the frontispiece, a robust burst of lavish ornament of a generally Churrigueresque character with some Kudejar and plateresque details. The frontispiece fills the central main bay and is divided into a wide bay flanked by narrow subsidiary bays. It contrasts strongly with the austerely simple main bay at either side of it, each of which has three tall equal-sized subsidiary bays.

Below the widely-projecting marquee, the three structural bays are expressed as rectangular openings separated by terra-cotta-sheathed granite-based piers supporting a continuous fiat terra-cotta-clad lintel. Molded lateral console brackets soften the junctions of pier and lintel. Originally, each of the four piers had a glazed bronze framed display panel crowned by ornamental cresting. Those on the wider end piers were larger than the intermediate pair. The panel on the western most pier originally masked an exit door. By 1970, larger display panels had concealed or replaced the two flanking the theatre entrance in the western bay.

The theatre entrance contains a central semi-octagonal ticket booth with wood-framed windows above a poly-chromatic dado faced, according to Sheet 12 of the original plans, with "Spanish mosaic tile." Two sets of paired doors, their large single glass panels covered by grilles of wooden balusters, flank the booth and are placed below large glazed hinged transoms faced with grilles of similar pattern.

The central bay originally contained a conventional shop front in one plane with a pair of central doors beneath a deep transom and single plate glass windows at either side above low marble bases and below four-light transoms that were shallower than the transom over the doorway. A shop sign announcing "Betsy Ross Candies" was originally suspended from a wrought-iron bracket at a right angle to the front at the west side of the entrance (The store first housed a tea room and confectionery.) By 1970, the shop front had been altered to one with a recessed splayed central entrance, and the front window transoms, if they still existed, were concealed by a sign spanning the bay and announcing "The Home of News, "Souvenirs," "Paper Back Editions," etc.

Originally, the eastern bay containing the entrance to the Indiana Roof Ballroom was almost identical with the Indiana Theatre entrance. It differed only in that there was but one set of paired doors adjoining the east side of the ticket booth, the remaining space being filled by a blank wall. The wall according to Sheet 12 of the original plans, was faced with "marble." As photographs show that other areas where plans call for marble are faced with travertine, it is probable that travertine was the form of marble intended. It should be noted that both theatre and ballroom entrances are inset only about six feet from the facade plane. The Indiana therefore lacks the deep open vestibule common to most moving picture theatres. The blank wall (of travertine) jogs inward slightly to allow space for a westward-facing entrance to a flight of basement stairs. Originally closed with an iron gate, this entrance had by 1970 been closed with a wooden door. By 1970 the two sets of paired doors west of the ticket booth had been replaced by a store front with a single door next to the booth, leaving only the single set of paired doors east of the booth for access to the ballroom. The transom over the three-light store window carried a sign announcing "Tillie's Lounge," and large white letters affixed to the window announced "Liquors" and "Beer." The transoms of both the theatre and ballroom entrances originally contained identical spindle-work grilles later concealed or replaced by signs, and the flat roofs of the identical ticket booths were edged with vasiform finials also later concealed or replaced by signs. In 1970 all exterior first-floor woodwork was painted deep blue.

The lines of the upper and lower edges of the marquee are continued by small terra cotta moldings to the rebated corners of the building. Above the marquee, the starkly simple bays flanking the frontispiece are (with the minor exceptions of an attic course sundial responding to a coat of arms, and the three large brackets that originally supported the vertical theatre sign) exact mirror images of each other. The two main bays are each subdivided into three lesser bays composed of vertical five and one half feet wide four tier window strips separated horizontally by embossed metal-sheathed spandrels and vertically by three-feet-and-eight-inches-wide piers. The two outer piers measure twelve feet and four inches between the window strips and the corners of the building. The tall window slots terminate in trefoil keyhole arches very slightly recessed from the wall plane.

The four-story middle zones of the east and west bays are separated from the tall blind attic, or parapet, zone by a five and one half foot high quasi-entablature motif composed of a frieze containing a raised panel with an inset concha above each window strip. Small identical shields are set between the panels. The frieze rests on a plain cavetto molding and is capped by a cavetto molding crowned by a cyma recta. Those upper moldings end in volutes where they abut the frontispiece, and the frieze zone is ended at each rebated corner of the building by an engaged baluster motif.

The east and west bays of the parapet zone each display a very slightly raised panel sheltered by a plain flat lintel supported on simple scrolls, and flanked by rope moldings with tasseled ends, set above each of the central subsidiary bays. The east panel contains a sundial with a bronze gnomon set below a crown and has black Roman numerals incised in the white terra cotta. The west panel contains a crowned shield quartered with apochraphal arms and mantled in floriated strapwork. Flanking the panels, over each of the other subsidiary bays, is a plain narrow,semicircular niche about nine feet high with a rectangular sill and a simple corbeled cap. The rebated corners of the parapet, or attic course, contain very tall and slender engaged colonnettes. The parapet is capped by a cyma recta molding supporting four equally spaced flaming urn motifs at either side of the frontispiece and a larger flaming urn at each corner of the building. The smaller urns are set on lateral C scrolls behind foliate console brackets that curve downward to embrace the parapet capping molding. Originally, six flagpoles about twenty feet high were set up, one behind every other urn counting from the corner. The poles had been removed by 1970.

The elaborate Churrigueresque frontispiece towers about eighty-two feet above the marquee roof. Heavily encrusted with complex, ornament, it contrasts dramatically with the simple east and west bays and is the almost overwhelming principal feature of the facade. It is composed of a wide central bay with splayed reveals that is headed by a splayed triangular arch and flanked by narrower bays framed by approximately thirty-six foot high engaged columns. The columns support entablature sections and the architrave of the arch. Above the entablatures are a transitional zone flanking the spandrels of the arch, and an arcaded zone serving in lieu of a main entablature. Above the arcaded zone, the frontispiece narrows to the width of its central bay and rises through an attic zone containing a large niche flanked by portrait roundels to support a burst of cresting ornament above the roofline.

All four engaged columns are set upon boldly projecting paneled plinths flanking the second-floor windows of the frontispiece subsidiary bays. Above the plinths, the outer and inner pairs of columns differ markedly. The outer columns are greater in diameter than the other pair and almost conceal paneled pilasters behind them. (There are no pilasters behind the inner pair.) Their shafts, in ascending order, are composed of reeded and enriched fluted drums beside the spandrels between second and third floors; superposed draped, flower festooned, and foliated vasiform drums beside the third floor windows; and, at the fourth floor, flower and foliage ornamented baluster forms supporting elongated Corinthian capitals with inverted helices. The pilaster capitals partially concealed behind them have sheep's heads in place of helices. Beyond the pilasters the outer limits of the entire frontispiece are edged with a delicate narrow border of flowers and foliated C and S scrolls. The inner columns are composed, in ascending order, of a floriated spiral shaft, a central section of disparate superposed motifs, and a spirally banded shaft supporting an elongated Corinthian capital.

The splayed side reveals of the archway have greatly elongated panels ornamented by oval-centered strap work cartouches alternating with circular-framed fleur-de-lys shields, all set against a background of foliate scrolls and flower filled urns. The triangular structure of the splayed arch itself is masked by its elaborate shape. It is composed, from springing line to apex, of a pair of quirked convex panels and two quirked ogee panels headed by a concave panel. The ogee panels bear floriated foliate-mantled roundels containing female heads (presumably the "Spanish ladies" executed by Emma Sangernebo), and the concave panel contains a foliage-mantled lozenge framing a bust said to represent Christopher Columbus. The archivolt framing the broad concave extrados of the arch follows the complex shape of the arch but begins with volutes, each with a central fleuron, resting directly on inner column capitals and terminates in a pair of volutes above the "Columbus" panel.

Each of the tall subsidiary bays between the columns contains three two-and-one-half-foot-wide deeply recessed rectangular windows. The lowest (second-floor) windows are mantled by conventionalized foliate ornament. Each of the high spandrels between the second and third floor windows has a plain recessed central rectangular panel flanked, above and below, by a plain slightly extruded circle, all set against an enriched background of floral and foliate relief. Below the third floor windows are plain sills spanning the bay. The two third-floor windows are framed by floral ornament and are capped by scrolled broken pediments, each containing an identical bearded head within a roundel. The fourth-floor window openings are designed as niches framed by semi-circular ornamented corbel-supported sills, floriated jambs, and concha-headed lintels.

Each of the outer columns supports an entablature block, and (as previously noted) the archivolt of the arch spanning the central bay rests directly on the inner column capitals. Above the subsidiary bays between the columns are entablature segments, their foliated friezes bearing central crowned shields, and their cornices breaking forward in paired volutes over the shields and ending in volutes abutting the aforementioned archivolt.

The area above the entablature sections and surrounding the archivolt of the central arch is divided vertically into four sections by boldly projecting elements and horizontally into two zones. Above the apex of the archivolt, which rises into the upper zone, is a large ornamented corbel supporting an elliptical shelf at the base of a niche. Inverted baluster forms supporting large foliated blocks project in line with the outer columns to flank both zones, and quasi-Ionic balusters supported by elaborate consoles project in alignment with the inner columns. In the lower of the two zones, the panels above the subsidiary bays are filled with lavish foliated and floral relief surrounding large central shields bearing armorial pastiches. The spandrel panels above the archway are similarly ornamented, except that the shields are smaller and blank. The upper zone above a narrow ornamented projecting course is designed as an arcade motif, its round arches supported on spirally banded Ionic colonnettes. There are two arches over each subsidiary bay and three at either side of the corbel in the central bay. Each contains a richly mantled cartouche and is headed by a shell, or concha.

The entire frontispiece rises almost four feet into the parapet, or blind attic course, of the elevation. At that level it narrows to the width of its central bay, the transition being spanned by a pair of C-scrolls connecting the central attic motif of the frontispiece with the angled bases of baluster-shaped flambeaux aligned with the outer columns. The attic motif contains a central niche flanked by square panels and is framed by acanthus-based spiral floral-banded Corinthian colonnettes and the entablature they support. The colonnette capitals have inverted helices. The shell-headed semicircular niche above the aforementioned corbel-supported elliptical shelf is framed by an architrave formed of compound quirked curves springing from fleuron-centered volutes and edged with foliate scrolls. The panels flanking the niche are about eight feet square. Each contains a circular niche with a bust framed in rope molding surrounded by scrolled foliation. The busts are said to represent (west) Ferdinand II of Aragon and (east) Isabella I of Castile and Leon, patroness of Columbus, but they we,ar ruffs, a form of collar that did not appear until the late sixteenth century, whereas Ferdinand died in 1516 and Isabella in 1504. The original elevation drawing indicates entirely different busts, perhaps intended to represent King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, los Reyes Catolicos.

The architrave of the frontispiece attic entablature continues the molding capping the rest of the elevation and breaks forward over the colonnettes and the central niche, where it rises to form a projecting scrolled pediment. The entablature frieze is ornamented by a pair of roundels containing swans and flanked by gryphons passant and rinceaux. The frieze and its cornice rise over three feet above the rest of the wall and are crowned by an elaborate cresting whose principal features are four tall baluster-shaped flambeaux and a central cartouche. The pair of flambeaux flanking the cartouche are taller than the outer pair and differ from them in design. The two pairs flank a froth of foliate scrolls that in turn flanks a pair of chess-pawn-shaped finials. The central cartouche rests on a bovine head and bears an armorial pastiche surrounded by boldly-scaled foliate scrolls and crowned by an urn of pomegranates . The cresting elements conclude the extraordinarily elaborate frontispiece with a lively flourish, or visual coda, when viewed against the sky.

The terra-cotta facade conceals from pedestrian view a twenty-foot-high brick wall with ten plain pilasters that Is set back thirty feet from the front plane behind a flat roof with a brick penthouse about ten feet high at its east end. The penthouse has a flat roof and large white terra-cotta quoins. Another thirty feet behind the plane of the pilastered brick wall, the brick gable of the main roof rises to an apex 121 1/2 feet above grade.

The marquee nearly spans the facade, extending to within four feet of each corner, and projects over the sidewalk for nineteen feet. It is supported by eight turnbuckled rods fastened into the facade. The fascia is about six feet high at its lowest points and is divided into three panels corresponding to the main bays of the building behind it. The central panel is headed by a long, low segmental arch: the flanking panels are long rectangles. Four tabernacle motifs and a molded cornice interspersed with small disks that project partially upward define the panels. The tabernacle motifs are composed of Ionic herms supporting projecting voluted pediments that echo the form of the niche pediment of the frontispiece attic. Originally, ten flagpoles were set behind the marquee cornice. The central panel originally contained a two-rank back-illuminated attraction board and, immediately below the arch, the words PUBLIX THEATRE. The flanking panels originally contained bulb lit larger letters reading PICTURES over the theatre entrance and DANCING over the ballroom entrance.

The marquee has undergone far fewer alterations than most theatre marquees, by 1970 a tall bulb-bordered multi-rank back-lit attraction board surmounted by a neon bordered bulb-lit sign reading CINERAMA in perspective simulating folded ribbon had been added to each short end of the marquee. A similar but more elongated CINERAMA sign had been placed In the central panel of the front, with THE INDIANA THEATRE spelled In small neon letters in the arch above it. Three dipped flagpoles extended over the arched top of the central panel. The original letters in the flanking panels had been removed or covered over with sheet metal painted white. The paint of the west panel was peeling in August 1970, and the east panel contained a painted sign advertising the Indiana Roof (ballroom) for conventions.

A sign nearly seventy feet high and almost nine feet wide projected at a right angle from near the west end of the facade until it was removed in 1958. It read INDIANA in five-and-one-half-foot-high bulb-lit letters. The sign widened slightly at its curved base and was topped by a bracketed hood molding that embraced its semicircular top and was crowned by a projecting voluted pediment with an acroterion at its crest.

Interior

The basement extends under the sidewalk for almost 20 feet beyond the building line. There are four main areas spanning the approximately 125 foot wide building. Numerous square exposed concrete columns support concrete ceiling joists throughout all areas. The front area is over 40 feet wide and was used as a billiard room until 1958. The original plan indicates washrooms in the southeast corner, an office in the southwest corner, and stairways in the northeast and northwest corners. Beyond the billiard room, an area over 100 feet wide contained bowling alleys until 1958. The original plan shows locker rooms in the northeast and northwest corners and seats raised on wooden platforms at the south end of the room. The billiard and bowling areas were altered for use as an exhibition hall in 1958. The next area, over 30 feet wide, contains an equipment room, a wedge-shaped circulating chamber, the orchestra pit, and, at the east end, the boiler room. The area under the stage is approximately 30 feet wide and contains a stairway at its southeast corner. Originally, a projection room and booth, a music room, and a leader's room were planned for the east end of the area. A revised plan eliminated the projection room and booth and provided a room marked "leader and music room," a larger room marked "orchestra," and a smaller room marked "organist."

The front section of the first floor spanning the building has an overall depth of about 34 feet. The west bay contains the theatre entrance lobby (over 30 feet wide) and, in the southwest corner, an exit stairway with a door opening to the front sidewalk. The door was originally concealed by a display panel and was later blocked. North of the stairway are a small check room entered from the theatre entrance lobby and an office entered from the first landing of the grand lobby west stairs. The theatre entrance lobby is entered through four sets of paired doors flanking the ticket booth and leads up a slightly sloping floor to an inner four sets of paired doors opening into the grand lobby. There is no other access to the theatre from the front of the building.

The middle bay contains a store nearly 40 feet wide entered only from the front. This space originally housed the Betsy Ross tea room and confectionery, but by 1970 a news store occupied the premises. The east bay was originally entirely occupied by the stair and elevator lobby of the Indiana Roof Ballroom and by a basement stairway in the southeast corner reached through a doorway facing west. The ballroom lobby was originally entered through two sets of paired doors west of the ticket booth and one set east of it. Ballroom stairs and two large (7-by-9-foot) elevators are at the east side of the lobby. The space was later subdivided, with the section west of the ticket booth partitioned off for commercial rental, leaving only one set of paired doors east of the booth as a lobby entrance. A tavern occupied the former west portion of the lobby in 1970.

Behind the front section of entrances and commercial spaces, the grand lobby, which is 22 1/2 feet wide, spans the building. There is an enclosed staircase at its west end, and a main stairway runs east and branches north and south, ending at the second floor. The grand lobby leads to the auditorium orchestra-level aisles through six sets of paired doors. There are two sets of paired exit doors in the grand lobby east wall.

At the orchestra level, the auditorium is approximately 105 feet deep from the curtain line to the slightly curved rear wall. Underneath the balcony, arcades supported on four two-foot-square freestanding piers at each side reduce the actual 122-foot width of the auditorium visually to 108 feet. (The arcades shelter the upper halves of the five-foot-wide east and west aisles.) Beginning in line with the ends of the convex balcony railing, about 30 feet from the proscenium wail and 12 feet from the outer walls, splayed inner walls run north, narrowing the auditorium to a 62-foot width at the proscenium wall. (The proscenium arch itself is 48 feet wide.) The two areas thus enclosed are in the shape of truncated triangles. Above the balcony, the full depth of the auditorium from the proscenium wall to the slightly curved sections of the rear wall flanking the projection booth is 130 feet.

The orchestra floor dips downward about eight feet toward the stage. There is an exit in the second arcade bay from the head of the east aisle and another, approached through an archway facing south at the north end of the arcade. Nine steps rise through the archway to a trapezoidal landing within the truncated pyramidal space at the front of the auditorium. At that point the exterior wall jogs inward at an angle to provide a sheltered space about 23 feet long for the last two flights of the exterior fire escape from the upper balcony. The paired doors of this exit face approximately northeast by east. Stairs from the front section of the balcony run parallel with the splayed inner wall and descend to the trapezoidal landing. Beyond them a pentagonal passage about ten feet wide leads to a door in the stage wall. The remainder of the truncated triangular space is occupied by a large trapezoidal vent shaft.

The west truncated pyramidal area is somewhat less complex in its internal arrangement. A passage beyond the south-facing archway at the head of the aisle arcade leads to a flight of nine steps and a landing from which a north-facing set of paired exit doors opens into a small open court beside the west wall of the stage. Fire stairs from the sixth-floor ballroom descend to the end at the same landing. The rest of the triangular space is occupied by stairs from the front section of the balcony that are parallel with the inner wall, and by a trapezoidal storage space adjoining the proscenium wall.

As previously noted, the east and west aisles are sheltered behind arcades until they emerge and are canted to follow the splayed lines of the auditorium inner walls. They ended at the proscenium, where flights of six steps each flanking the orchestra pit led to the stage apron. There was a cross aisle in front of the orchestra pit. Aisle ends, steps, orchestra pit, and cross aisle were later concealed by the installation of the Cinerama screen. The main cross aisle does not run across the house. It is interrupted by the 33-row central block of seats, which are flanked by aisles running from front to rear. Intermediate aisles between those aisles and the east and west aisles end behind the first four rows of seats.

The west wall of the stage area is placed about 15 feet within the building line, leaving a jog for an open exit court, the southeast corner of which is occupied by a small elevator accessible from the court but not from the stage. (The elevator runs directly to the sixth-floor ballroom.) The east 15 feet or so of the stage area are partitioned off for stairs and an approximately 15-by-24-foot room marked "office" on the original plan. The stage wall jogs south about six feet at the stairs, which serve a ballroom exit as well as three tiers of dressing rooms. A passage at the north side of the stairs serves the stage door, which is also the northernmost exit in the east wall. Near the northeast corner of the stage, there is a wide scene door. The stage is just four inches short of being 30 feet deep. The H8-foot-wide proscenium is flanked by wings 23 feet wide at stage right and a bit over 21 feet wide at stage left, making a total stage length of over 92 feet. Corresponding to the jog at the dressing-room stairs, the west end of the stage wall also jogs south about six feet to form a pocket where the switch panel is placed. The original screen, which was only 15 feet long, was hung about eight feet behind the curtain line.

At the second floor the front section above the entrances and commercial spaces contains a range of lounges and washrooms and the south mezzanine lounge, an area 14 feet wide and about 105 feet long overlooking the grand lobby through a number of varied openings. The southeast stairs ascending from the ballroom entrance lobby have no second-floor access, but the southwest stairs can be entered from the mezzanine lounge. Between the stairs, from west to east, are the men's lounge and washroom, the women's washroom and lounge, and a room called "Castilian Cosmetic Room" in the opening program and used as a checkroom by 1970. The two lounges and the cosmetic room are entered from the mezzanine lounge, and the washrooms are entered from their respective lounges. The cosmetic room is open to the women's lounge through a distylar arcade. Two telephone closets between the men's and women's lounge entrances, and a utility closet east of the cosmetic room also open off the mezzanine lounge. East of the mezzanine lounge and the utility closet are the two elevator shafts, which do not open at the second floor. At the west end, north of the southwest stairs, there is a storage room about ten feet square opening from the mezzanine lounge.

The grand lobby is fully two stories high, its upper portion an open well. Short east and west passages connect the south mezzanine lounge with a corresponding north mezzanine lounge, also 14 feet wide, that extends the full width of the building over the first arcade bay of the auditorium orchestra level. Thus the entire mezzanine area behind the front half of the balcony forms a kind of ambulatory surrounding the upper half of the grand lobby. The north mezzanine lounge, like its south counterpart, overlooks the grand lobby through a number of varied openings. The upper flights of the main stairs end at the east end of the south lounge and near the east end of the longer north mezzanine lounge. The east connecting passage runs behind the wail backing those flights and the landing from which they rise. East of the passage are enclosed stairs that begin there and ultimately rise to the southeast corner of the balcony. Under them is a closet entered at the southeast corner of the north lounge. The west passage overlooks the grand lobby through a colonnetted opening extending for its full length. Enclosed stairs to the southwest corner of the balcony rise west of the passage, beginning at its south end. The head of the west stairs from the lobby projects five steps into the north mezzanine lounge.

A central 28-foot-long vomitorium and east and west vomitoria about 38 feet long are ramped gently upward from the north mezzanine lounge to the lower cross aisle of the balcony. An ushers' room measuring about 13 by 27 feet under the mid-section of the balcony opens from the east vomitorium. All three vomitoria are five feet wide. Where the east vomitorium emerges to meet the lower cross aisle, there is an exit to the outside fire escape. There are plenum chambers for forced air above the balcony soffit and below the stepped middle and upper sections of balcony seating. Flights of eight steps flank the first three rows of balcony seats and descend from the lower cross aisle between parapets to south facing archways opening into the enclosed truncated triangular spaces. At the east side, stairs to the first floor descend from a trapezoidal landing beyond the archway. Beyond the stairs are an inaccessible pentagonal space and the trapezoidal vent duct. At the west side, stairs to the first floor descend from a pentagonal landing beyond the archway. Fire stairs from the ballroom occupy the northwest corner, and the trapezoidal area remaining next to the stage wall is inaccessible.

The first three rows of balcony seating are wider than the others and are reached by six short stepped aisles from the lower cross, aisle. They are railed off by a parapet from the cross aisle, forming a loge section behind the wide, slightly concave parapet fronting the balcony. The remaining balcony seating will be described later. At the east end of the stage, over the office, there are three dressing rooms, each with a single window, entered from a corridor with a small windowed wash room at its north end. The corridor is entered from a landing of the fire stairs at the southeast corner of the stage that continue upward to the ballroom floor.

On the third floor the southeast and southwest corners are occupied by stairways, both of which are accessible at this level. North of the southeast stairs are two elevator shafts and a lobby about 10 1/2 by 20 feet into which the stairs and elevators open. North of the southwest stairs are two washrooms and a small passage. The rest of the front section above the south mezzanine lounge and its adjacent lounges and washrooms contains offices and a corridor. The corridor runs north of the offices and jogs toward its east end to pass between two shorter offices, a pair of closets, and a northeast vault containing cabinets and a safe. From east to west, the original revised plan assigned the offices as follows: auditor (9 by 18 feet), general manager (14 by 18 feet), director's room (13 1/2 by 23 feet), advertising and exploitation (13 by 23 feet), and an art room (25 by 41 feet) with both a projection booth (9 by 11 feet) and a projection room (ll by 22 feet) subtracted from its northwest area, leaving an L-shaped space. The measurements cited are approximate.

North of the corridor wall, the space under the upper part of the balcony is reached only from the balcony fire stairs in the southwest corner. A catwalk runs eastward to a central fan platform and thence is ramped to a fan platform next to the balcony southeast fire stairs, which are not accessible at this level. The middle section of balcony seating runs through the third-floor level but is unconnected with any of the spaces described here. At the front of the auditorium, the east truncated triangular space contains an organ chamber and the trapezoidal air duct. The corresponding west space contains an organ chamber and, in the northwest corner, ballroom fire stairs. The fire stairs in the southeast corner of the stage area open onto a single large dressing room (16 by 24 feet) with a small washroom in its northwest corner.

The front section of the fourth floor over the offices and corridor was occupied by a checkroom serving the sixth-floor ballroom. This fourth-floor checkroom was later subdivided into a series of offices. The original plan indicates racks supporting 1834 hooks behind a counter stretching 95 feet. The east end of the area contains the southeast stairs and two elevator shafts, all of which open at this level and continue upward. The west end has southwest stairs that end at this level, a small washroom, and northwest stairs leading to the fifth floor.

Beyond the straight north wall of the checkroom (now offices), which has no openings, is the upper section of the balcony. The ends of the balcony rear wall are curved, forming small inaccessible east and west gores behind the wall. The center of the rear section of the balcony is occupied by the projection booth, a room which measures 12 by 27 feet, is entered through its east wall, and has a small washroom in its southwest corner. Above the lower cross aisle, the balcony seating is divided into two sections by an upper cross aisle and has six stepped aisles. The main section contains 15 rows, the lower five interrupted at the ends and in the center by the parapeted vomitoria. The upper section has a maximum of ten rows, with nine at the sides and four in front of the projection booth, At the east end of the upper cross aisle, a vomitorium ramps downward to the balcony southeast stairs. An exit to the exterior fire escape opens from that vomitorium. At the west end of the cross aisle, a corresponding vomitorium leads to the balcony southwest stairs. The front of the auditorium at this level contains the upper parts of the organ chambers, the trapezoidal air duct (east), fire stairs from the ballroom (west), and an iron walkway to service lights above the proscenium arch. The dressing room plan at the east end of the stage is identical to that on the floor below.

The ballroom checkroom plan on the fifth floor is almost identical with the original fourth floor checkroom plan, even to the number of hooks (1834) indicated here. The only variation occurs at the west end, where the counter jogs to include additional checking space over the stairs in the southwest corner below. Stairs to the ballroom commence at the northwest corner of the area and ascend in three runs. At the east end, the elevators run to this level but do not continue to the sixth-floor ballroom. Beyond the north wall of the checkroom is the upper part of the projection booth, and a plenum chamber about 97 by 123 feet with seven catwalks connected by an eighth catwalk at their south ends for servicing lights in the suspended ceiling of the auditorium. Beyond that area is another plenum chamber 30 feet deep spanning the building and containing mechanical equipment. The ballroom west fire stairs are partitioned off from this area. The stage gridiron is at this level, and there are no dressing rooms. Fire stairs in the southeast corner of the stage area continue over a portion of the fifth-floor dressing room to the ballroom above.

On the sixth floor, the front section over the checkroom is occupied mainly by an 18-foot-high lounge measuring about 30 by 86 feet. The east end of the section contains the southeast stairs (which continue to the penthouse over the elevator shafts), the elevator shafts (closed at this level), and the women's lounge, which measures 16 by 24 feet. The west end contains an office about 11 by 12 feet in the southwest corner, the stairs descending to the checkroom, and a 5 by 11 foot room marked "refrig." on the original plan. The north wall of the lounge has six bays. From east to west, the first and fifth bays have 14 foot wide archways, the second and fourth bays have 11-foot wide archways, the third bay is blind, and the sixth bay contains the door to the men's lounge. Beyond the archways is the ballroom over the auditorium and stage.

The ballroom, is 40 feet high at its center and spans the building. The dance floor is oval, measures 95 by 118 feet overall, and is six inches below the surrounding floor and peripheral ancillary spaces.

The floor itself cost more than $100,000 and has few equals in the country. The surface is of maple ends, set in a circular design. Underneath, however, to provide resiliency and to prevent tiring of the dancers, is a composition of felt and rubber, laid on wooden sleepers over a concrete base. (Indianapolis Star, September 1st, 1927, p. 5)

The dance floor is surrounded by piers and wall segments containing air ducts, columns, and, at the north end, the 25 foot wide stage, which is 19 feet deep. The piers, columns, and wall segments support a shallow oval balcony, or terrace, averaging about 12 feet wide and backed by sham architecture made of plaster. The balcony is continuous, except where it is interrupted by the space over the orchestra platform, or stage. Behind the balcony supports there is an open passage varying in width from 7 1/2 feet to 12 feet, depending on the room taken up by ancillary spaces in the four corners of the ballroom area.

The southeast corner contains the 17 by 25 foot women's washroom, which is entered from the women's lounge. North of the washroom wall, open stairs ascend in three runs to the balcony. The southwest corner contains the 14 1/2 by 26-foot men's lounge (entered from the ballroom lounge at the front of the building) and the 15 by 30 foot men's washroom, which narrows to nine feet at its north end. Open stairs in the angle where the rooms join ascend in two runs to the balcony.

The northeast corner originally contained a small (7 by 18 feet) kitchen, later considerably enlarged. A 26 foot long counter and back bar were indicated between the kitchen and the stage. The enclosed northeast fire stairs just south of the kitchen terminated at the balcony level. The original plan indicates a tile floor throughout all but the southernmost 20 feet of the southeast corner area. An enclosed four foot wide passage runs behind the stage and continues in a quadrant past the women's dressing room, 12 by 17 foot musicians' room, and men's dressing room in the northwest corner to the elevator shaft that opens only at this level and from, the outside court below. The enclosed northwest fire stairs ascend to the balcony.