Elgin & Winter Garden Theatre
The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres
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| Address | 189 Yonge Street Toronto, Ontario |
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| Owner | Ontario Heritage Trust |
| Type | Edwardian stacked theatres |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 1913 |
| Rebuilt | 1987–1989 restoration |
| Years active | 1913–present |
| Architect | Thomas W. Lamb |
| Designated | 1982 |
The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres are a pair of stacked theatres located at 189 Yonge Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Winter Garden Theatre is seven storeys above the Elgin Theatre. They are the last surviving Edwardian stacked theatres in the world.
The pair of theatres were originally built as the flagship of Marcus Loew's theatre chain in 1913. The building was designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb, who also designed the Ed Mirvish Theatre nearby.
Both theatres were built to show vaudeville acts and the short silent movies of the time. Each theatre was intended to compete in a different market.
The gold-and-marble, domed, 'hard-top' lower theatre (originally called Loew's Yonge Street Theatre) was home to continuous vaudeville and movies. The upper-level Winter Garden is an 'atmospheric' country garden under the stars. The upper theatre was built for the 'Big Time' vaudeville market and had reserved seats at premium prices, catering to the upper middle class. As well as competing in a different market, the upper theatre could be used for experimentation with acts, without the risk of closing the lower theatre.
By 1928, feature-length silent films were popular, but sound films were just coming into their own. In 1928, the lower theatre was converted to show sound films and the upper theatre was closed. The Winter Garden remained shuttered for about sixty years. Left inside it was a large collection of vaudeville flats and scenery, now the world's largest surviving collection. In 1969, Loews sold the Elgin to Famous Players. By the 1970s, the Elgin was showing mainly B movies and soft-core pornography.
In 1981, the Ontario Heritage Foundation bought the structure from Famous Players. From March 1985 through March 1987 the musical Cats was very successfully presented in the essentially unrestored Elgin, showing the viability of the theatre. The building was closed in 1987 to be fully restored, and then reopened in 1989.
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