Ed Mirvish Theatre Timeline

Alexander Pantages (1867-1935) Entrepreneur, self-made multi-millionaire, and sole owner of the most important independent chain of vaudeville theatres in North America. He managed and booked talent for Toronto’s Pantages Theatre from 1920-1929.

Pantages Theatre, Seattle. The first Pantages Theatre, built by Alexander Pantages in 1904. It was the first of many theatres that would bear his name.

Pantages Theatre, Winnipeg. Built in 1914, this would become the hub of the Pantages vaudeville circuit.

Illustration of the Pantages tour circuit. All shows originated in Winnipeg and moved out to other theatres in the circuit.

Ad in the Winnipeg Tribune, Jan 24 1914 promoting a new show on the tour. There are fifteen Pantages theatres listed in the ad, including five Canadian venues: Winnipeg, Calgary, Edmonton, Vancouver and Victoria.

Nathan Louis Nathanson (1886-1943) was Canada’s entertainment mogul in the early twentieth century. In 1916 he purchased his first movie theatre in Toronto, which in four short years grew into the Paramount Theatre chain of 20 motion picture houses. In 1920 he sold his movie chain to Adolf Zucker, and with him founded Famous Players Canadian Corporation. In the same year, he realized his dream of building the grandest vaudeville theatre in Canada.  

This notice about Eastern Theatres, Limited, appeared in The Evening Telegram in 1919. Along with Nathanson, some key investors included J.P. Bickell, president of Porcupine Mines, J.B. Tudhope, of Tudhope automobile fame, and W.D. Ross, who later became the fourteenth Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario.

Eastern Theatres Limited stock certificate in the amount of $25, belonging to one of the first shareholders in the theatre.

Thomas White Lamb (1871-1942) was the twentieth century’s foremost theatre and cinema architect, most renowned for his magnificent vaudeville theatre designs. He created over 300 theatres in the course of his career.

Yonge Street entrance, 1920
The narrow strip of land purchased on Yonge Street, measuring 22’ wide by 120’ long, and referred to as "the link”, was transformed by Lamb into an elegant entrance to the theatre. The long staircase and Mezzanine landing above pass over a laneway that runs between Victoria and Yonge streets, seamlessly joining the two sides together.

Stage with hand-painted grand curtain, 1920
The stage dimensions, 50’ wide by 36’ high, with 70’ of wing space, were impressive even by today’s modern standards.

Pantages 1920, auditorium

Rear Auditorium and Grand Staircase, 1920
Patrons arriving through the Yonge Street link would ascend to the oval Mezzanine lobby, offering a majestic view of the whole theatre, including the back-lit stained glass window and the hand-painted mural that ran 20’ long by 7’ feet high across the rear wall. Anyone not seated in Balcony would descend the Grand Staircase, which led to the Orchestra seating.

Auditorium interior, 1920
The Pantages was designed in the “hard top”, “Adam" and "Empire” styles, all favoured by Lamb, featuring hand-painted faux finishes, neo-classical lines, ornate plaster mouldings, gold and silver leaf, crystal chandeliers, domed ceilings, huge murals and fine imported marble. While extremely ornate, the theatre was built in less than one year, largely due to the fact that much of the decorative interior was prefabricated and shipped in from professional studios in New York that Lamb had worked with on previous projects. The auditorium measured 22,500 square feet, and featured a magnificent central dome. Originally, there was no lobby on the main floor and seating went all the way to the back wall. With 3626 seats, it was the second largest vaudeville house in the world.

Victoria Street entrance, 1920
The Victoria Street entrance was originally intended for patrons arriving by car, and was considered a unique and innovative feature for its day.

The new Yonge Street facade: The Imperial Six, 1973.

Mandel Sprachman Shop Drawing – Imperial Six Yonge Street façade.

Floorplan of the Imperial Six. The layout of the six cinemas, and the location of the building entrances, would hold great consequences for Famous Players in the years ahead. Cinema 1 was built “mid-air” over the edge of what had been the front Balcony. Cinema 2, located on the original Balcony level, was the largest of the six cinemas. Cinemas 3 and 4, the smallest cinemas, were accessed by a narrow walkway that was created by cutting through part of an original wall; Cinema 4 was located underneath Cinema 3 on space that held the original stage. Cinemas 5 and 6 were built on the original Orchestra level.

Imperial Six balcony landing. The original interior design work was largely destroyed. The original “scagliola” marble faux finish on the oval Mezzanine railing was painted over in bright red.

Imperial Six cinema, interior. Large portions of the original balcony were removed in the reconstruction, to enable the addition of exits. The proscenium arch plasterwork, carved balcony fronts and boxes were completely destroyed. The grand ceiling dome was also largely destroyed due to the erection of dividing walls, and what did remain, was painted over.

Imperial Six, main lobby. The original Mezzanine landing mural was replaced, and the stained glass window removed.

Pantages Victoria Street marquee 1987

Pantages 1987, balcony lobby. A new concession counter was installed on the upper lobby as part of the Pantages restoration.

Interior of the 900-seat Pantages cinema, 1987. This space was once a portion of the original theatre’s balcony.

The renovated Pantages lobby, 1987. Canadian artist Joyce Wieland was commissioned to paint a new mural, titled “Celebration”, for the Grand Staircase landing. The balustrade was painted blue.

Thomas Lamb drawing, cross-section of original Pantages 1920
Original Thomas Lamb drawings were obtained from Columbia University in New York. David Mesbur, the architect for the recontruction, used Lamb’s drawings as a guide, and incorporated extensive modifications to the stage, auditorium and dressing rooms, to accommodate the needs of modern productions. Adjustments were also made for a modern audience, including additional washroom and lobby space, wider exits, a coat check room, updated fire, electrical and mechanical systems, and accessibility needs. Seating capacity was also reduced from the original 3626 seats to 2200.

David Mesbur drawing, based on Thomas Lamb's original, for the theatre reconstruction.

Staircase restoration, paint layers
This photo demonstrates the multiple layers of paint that required careful removal during the restoration process. The restored faux finish technique, called “scagliola” – achieved by mixing marble dust and pigment directly into wet plaster moulds – is a distinctive feature throughout the Pantages lobby and entranceway. An old technique, originating in Italy, it had fallen out of use in contemporary design. For areas where the original scagliola was destroyed, the team used painstaking brushwork to match the marbleized finish. The scagliola technique was originally created to save the expensive of using real marble; remarkably the process of restoring the faux marble finish in 1988 was far costlier than if they had replaced it with the real thing.

Stained glass window, restored
This stained glass window, which graced the original auditorium’s Grand Staircase landing, was removed and lost during the Imperial Six reconstruction. However, it was serendipitously discovered one day by the project’s design coordinator who noticed it in the second-storey window of a private residence in Toronto. The owners graciously agreed to return it to its original home.

Plaster mouldings, restoration 1 of 3
Virtually all of the original 1920 plaster ornamentation had been destroyed or badly damaged over the years. More than 3500 new plaster casts were created in the process of restoring the decorative ornamentation in the auditorium and lobby. The biggest challenge was the task of recreating the large three-panel plaster screens that hung above the box seats on either side of the proscenium arch. The plaster casting for the centre panel alone required one of the largest silicone moulds ever made.

Plaster mouldings, restoration 2 of 3
Restoration team in the process of replacing the plaster grillwork that once covered the pipes belonging to the original theatre's enormous pipe organ.

Plaster mouldings, restoration 3 of 3
The completed and gilded plaster organ grilles installed over the upper boxes.

Fly tower extension, reconstruction
To meet the needs of advanced stage technology, the stage tower was raised by approximately 10 feet to allow greater fly space, the stage was widened, and more room added to the wings. Reconstruction also entailed a 16’ excavation beneath the auditorium to add new dressing room and backstage facilities. A 14’ deep trap room was built under the stage floor, including a special two-and-a-half foot trench that was needed to hold a particular set piece for The Phantom of the Opera.

Yonge Street lobby, restoration
During the Imperial Six days, the Yonge St lobby link was redone in yellow, black and red. This photo shows its condition prior to the 1988 restoration. The restoration team retrieved and analyzed approximately 1500 paint samples in their effort to restore the original 1920 interior design colours. Gold and silver leaf were also painstakingly restored, by hand, by a local team over the course of seven months.

Dome ceiling, restoration
The dome was severely damaged during the Imperial Six reconstruction and required extensive rebuilding and repair.

Restoration
Craftsman working to prepare the decorative plasterwork for final gilding and colouring.