Empress Theatre (Montreal)

The Empress Theatre
Empress Theatre on Sherbrooke Street West in N.D.G.
Alternative names	Cinema V
General information
Type	Movie theatre
Architectural style	Egyptian Revival architecture
Location	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Address	5560 Sherbrooke Street West
Coordinates	45°28′18″N 73°36′46″W / 45.4718°N 73.6129°W / 45.4718; -73.6129Coordinates: 45°28′18″N 73°36′46″W / 45.4718°N 73.6129°W / 45.4718; -73.6129
Current tenants	None (abandoned)
Inaugurated	1927
Owner	City of Montreal
Design and construction
Architect	Joseph-Alcide Chaussé
Other designers	Emmanuel Briffa

The Empress Theatre (also known as Cinema V), is an abandoned Egyptian-style theatre located on Sherbrooke Street West in the N.D.G. district of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It has been closed since 1992.

Built in 1927 and designed by Joseph-Alcide Chaussé, with interiors by Emmanuel Briffa, it is the only theatre in Canada designed in the Egyptian style (inspired by the discovery of Tutankhamen's tomb). Opened as the Empress Theatre, the building was a vaudeville theatre for burlesque and first-run films. In 1962 it was a dinner theatre called the Royal Follies. In 1968 it became a two-tiered art-movie cinema called Cinema V-Salle Hermes. In 1974 it was briefly named The Home of the Blue Movies and in 1975 it became Cinema V, a repertory cinema. In 1988 it was acquired by Famous Players and showed first-run films. In 1992 a fire caused damage to the theater resulting in its permanent closure.

The abandoned building is slowly deteriorating and its perimeter fenced off. In 2005 community organizers opened a small one room office on the ground floor (left corner of building; location of a former health food store) as a headquarters for the building's restoration. The office was closed by the city in December 2011, leaving the building vacant and continuing to deteriorate.

Geordie Productions [1], Black Theatre Workshop, McGill Music Conservatory and the City of Montreal had planned to restore the building. The estimated cost was $11.8 million. The theatre was to be used for performance and visual arts and included a cafe/art gallery and a 246-person concert hall. It was to be home to Geordie Productions and Black Theatre Workshop, and the McGill Conservatory had planned to use the theatre for its music program.