How Do Powell Hall’s Iconic Chandeliers Get Cleaned?

By Eric Dundon

One of the most photogenic views in the Jack C. Taylor Music Center can be found at the Met Bar. Located on the second floor of the original 1925 building known as Powell Hall, the space overlooks the Wightman Foyer, designed by architecture firm Rapp & Rapp in the 1920s to evoke the chapel at the Palace of Versailles.

Soaring columns, a mirrored wall, and an elbow-bend staircase clad in crimson carpet give the foyer its elegance. But its most iconic features may be the four opulent chandeliers suspended four stories above the marble floor.

The fixtures have illuminated the space since the building opened in 1925 and are among Powell Hall’s most photographed features. But after welcoming hundreds of thousands of visitors to more than 100 events each season, how do these enormous chandeliers keep their sparkle?

Once a year, they come down.

In August 2026, the chandeliers received their annual cleaning—a process made possible by a system hidden above the ceiling. Each brass chandelier is slowly lowered by a crank until it hovers just a few feet above the floor.

That’s when a crew from Pritchard Industries gets to work.

And there’s plenty to clean: each chandelier contains 599 individual crystal pieces.

Some crystals can be carefully removed from the brass frame, while others remain attached. Each is cleaned using a combination of spray cleaner, cloths, and dusting tools. Some crystals are no bigger than a quarter; the elaborate crystal globe hanging from the bottom of each fixture is about the size of a cantaloupe.

Lowering the chandeliers also reveals something that can be difficult to appreciate when looking up from the foyer floor: their enormous scale. Each fixture stands approximately 15 feet tall, requiring crews to use ladders to reach its upper sections.

The chandeliers received another update during the 2023–2025 renovation of Powell Hall, when their incandescent bulbs were replaced with more efficient LED bulbs.

Cleaning all four chandeliers takes several days. Once the last crystal has been polished, each fixture is carefully hoisted four stories back into place.

There, the chandeliers are once again ready to sparkle above the Wightman Foyer—and welcome audiences back to Powell Hall for the orchestra’s 147th season.

Eric Dundon is the SLSO’s Public Relations Director.