Looking southwest towards the Pantages Theatre, today the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre, located at 244 Victoria St in the Downtown Yonge area of Toronto.
Built between 1919 and 1920, the theatre was one of Canada’s last combination vaudeville/movie-house theatres and was part of the Pantages chain. While Alexander Pantages operated it, it was owned by Famous Players. In 1929, the Pantages theatre chain collapsed. It was taken over completely by Famous Players, who renamed it the Imperial Theatre and began showing movies only the following year.
In 1972, the theatre underwent significant renovations, becoming one of the world’s first multiplexes when the interior was divided into six auditoriums. It reopened as the Imperial Six Theatre.
In the mid-1980s, new owners removed the partition walls and restored the theatre’s original interior style, returning it to a live theatre venue under its previous name, the Pantages. While the theatre has undergone a few ownership and name changes, including being known as the Canon Theatre, it has been owned by Mirvish Productions since 2008. It’s currently called the CAA Ed Mirvish Theatre.
Then and Now
SOURCE
- City of Toronto Heritage Register
- Heritage Toronto
- Ontario Heritage Trust
- Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada
- Photo: Denise Marie for TorontoJourney416
- Vintage Photo: City of Toronto Archives
- City of Toronto: Maps
- Toronto City Directory courtesy of Toronto Public Library
