Elgin & Winter Gardens Theatres

Oil on canvas.

30x30x1.50"

The Elgin & Winter Garden Theatres
189 Yonge St, Toronto
Built in 1913, the "double-decker" theatre complex contained the Winter Garden Theatre, constructed on top of the Elgin Theatre (originally known as Loew's Yonge Street Theatre). They are the last surviving Edwardian stacked theatres in the world.
The Elgin was all gold leaf and rich fabrics, a formal theatre of plaster cherubs and ornate opera boxes. The Winter Garden was a botanical fantasy. Both theatres were built to show vaudeville acts and the short silent movies of the time.
With the decline of vaudeville, the Winter Garden closed in 1928. The Elgin continued as a movie house, gradually slipping into disrepair with the passing of each decade.
In 1981, the Ontario Heritage Trust purchased the building. Prior to the Trust's ambitious restoration program, the successful production of Cats ran for nearly two years at the Elgin. In 1984, a $29-million restoration began. More than 65,000 square feet of new space was created, including lobby and lounge areas and an eight-storey backstage pavilion housing modern dressing rooms and two rehearsal halls.
In December 1989, the Elgin & Winter Garden Theatres reopened and has once again become one of Canada's finest theatrical stage complexes.