Everyone on the North Shore has been here. A school concert, a touring musical, a night out in Skokie. You pull into the drive and the building announces itself: a long curved front, a row of tall white columns and a steel canopy sweeping over the entrance. When a building is that recognisable, a little weathering on the columns reads as neglect. The Center wanted it to read as cared for.
The Job
Repaint the exterior architectural elements of the North Shore Center for the Performing Arts: the tall white entrance columns, the steel canopy and trellis above them, the trim along the curved glass facade and the painted surfaces around the drop-off drive. All of it in the open, on a building with a performance or a rehearsal nearly every day.
What Made It Different
- The schedule belongs to the stage. Load-ins, matinees and evening shows set the hours. Work at the entrance happened in the mornings and on dark days, and the drive was always clear for patrons and buses by the time doors opened.
- Tall columns, bright white. White columns show everything: a sag, a lap mark, a speck of dirt in the finish. They were washed, sanded smooth, spot-primed and finished in thin, even coats from a lift, in a white matched to the building’s original scheme.
- Steel overhead. The canopy and trellis are painted steel that sits in the sun and the salt spray from the drive all winter. Rust was cut back to sound metal and primed before the finish went on.
- Nothing drips on a patron’s car. Lift work over a public drive means drop cloths, masking and a ground spotter, every hour of every day.
How It Ran
The building was walked with the facilities team and the performance calendar before a date was set. Steel first, because it needed the most prep; then the columns, one at a time, finished top to bottom in a single pass so there were no lap marks; then the lower trim along the glass. The drive was swept and the cones were gone before every performance.
Landmark Buildings and Working Venues
Theaters, hotels, restaurants and offices are painted around the people in them. We have done this at Six Flags Great America, on Metra stations, and for offices and property managers across the North Shore. For other work in the village, see the Skokie painters page.
Talk to Pete About a Commercial Building
Call (847) 564-4880 or request a site visit online. Pete walks every job himself and gives you a written scope, a firm quote, and a schedule your calendar can live with.