Elon to dedicate newly restored chandelier from Old Main

A piece of Elon University history returned to campus this week with the installation of an antique chandelier that had previously hung in Old Main, the school’s administration building that was destroyed by fire in 1923. 

The purchase and restoration of the chandelier was made possible by a generous gift from Raymond Beck ’75 and his wife, Deborah, with the university to celebrate the return of the chandelier during a dedication ceremony during Homecoming. University Historian George Troxler and wife Carole Troxler, a retired Elon history professor, helped locate the chandelier and return it to Elon. 

The chandelier dedication will be held on Saturday, Oct. 22, at 1:15 p.m. in the Archives Reading Room of Carol Grotnes Belk Library, where the chandelier now hangs. 

The chandelier is an eight-lamp Bradley and Hubbard Model #613 that had hung in the Philologian Literary Society Hall on the third floor of Old Main. Originally designed to burn kerosene, the piece was replaced by an electric chandelier after the construction of a central power station in 1906 brought electricity to campus. 

The chandelier was then purchased by former Elon student Charles Auman for his church, Fair Grove Methodist Church in Whynot, North Carolina, where it was used until 2015. With the assistance from the Becks, Elon University purchased the chandelier from the Whynot Memorial Association and had it restored by Jefferson Art Lighting in Ann Arbor, Michigan. 

The chandelier was refinished according to the original paint scheme and upgraded with reproductions of the original hand-blown opalescent shades, glass chimneys, shade holders, perforated central draft burners and hand-spun brass oil fonts. New LED bulbs cast a light similar to what the chandelier would have produced when it burned kerosene.