Located high above the stage floor, the painting room has a slot along the north wall, the "painting frame," that allows a drop or backshutter to be raised from below. In addition,
on the south wall of the painting room there is what Warren calls a "truss scaffold, which winds up and down by windlass." There is no further mention of this device among the records
of the Chestnut Street Theatre. We can only guess that the "truss scaffold" might have been an elevator-like mechanism, perhaps similar to some of the elevator devices at
the Drottningholm Court Theatre outside Stockholm, Sweden which raise
scenery from the basement to stage level.
In the context of the Chestnut Street house, the "truss scaffold" may have been used to raise and lower small set pieces and furniture from the "painting room to the stage floor." Located as it was, upstage of the backshutter line, it is doubtful that this device was used by performers, although it is possible that it was used in the appearance of apotheoses.*
