The massive project was completed in 1996. The chairs were repainted and reupholstered, the carpeting replaced, and the gilt paint completely re-stenciled. The facility underwent a major renovation in 1993 when Lyric Opera of Chicago purchased the space it had previously rented. The Civic Opera is the only house in which the work has ever been performed. The opera received mixed reviews and parts of it were broadcast in the Boston area. It was commissioned by the Civic Opera's prime star and manager, Mary Garden. The inaugural season was marked by the première of Camille, a modern opera by 28-year-old Chicago-composer Hamilton Forrest July 15, 1929. The limestone used on the exterior was brought from Bedford, Indiana and carved by a team of stone carvers at Ingalls Stone Company under the direction of Harry Liva. As they did on other occasions, the architects commissioned Henry Hering to produce architectural sculpture for the building. Insull selected the architecture firm Graham, Anderson, Probst & White who were responsible for numerous buildings in the downtown Chicago Loop (including the art deco Merchandise Mart and the former Morton Salt headquarters building next door to the Civic Opera House at 110 N Wacker, constructed in the 1950s). The building has been seen as being shaped like a huge chair and is sometimes referred to as "Insull's Throne" or "Insull's Folly." Samuel Insull envisioned and hired the design team for building a new opera house to serve as the home for the Chicago Civic Opera.
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