The Grand Opera House was an opera house and concert hall located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
The Grand Opera House was an opera house and concert hall located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Opened in 1874 on Adelaide Street West, west of Yonge Street, the Grand Opera House was Toronto's premier concert hall during the late 19th century. [1] Designed in the Second Empire style with 1750 seats, the hall was the first in the city to feature gaslights that could all be switched on or off simultaneously with one electric switch. The Grand Opera House's stage hosted some of the era's best-known performers, including actors Maurice Barrymore, Sarah Bernhardt and Sir Henry Irving, soprano Emma Albani, as well as Italian baritones Giuseppe Del Puente and Antonio Galassi. [2] [3] Visiting lecturers included Oscar Wilde. [4] During its initial years, the Grand Opera House was managed by Charlotte Morrison, a former actress, and the guiding force at that time behind Toronto's opera and theatre scenes. Morrison has been described as the "Ed Mirvish of her time". [2]
The Grand Opera House suffered a number of fires, including a major blaze in 1879 that killed a stage-carpenter, as well as his wife and infant daughter. [5] During the late-1890s, the Grand Opera House had its own press agent, W. A. Hewitt. [6] Although the hall was restored and reopened after each fire, it slowly fell into neglect with the arrival of the vaudeville age in the 1900s, which brought with it newer and more modern vaudeville theatres to Toronto, most notably the Loews and Winter Garden Theatres on Yonge Street. [2]
In 1919, the Grand Opera House became embroiled in an infamous and widely reported criminal investigation. On December 2, the Grand Opera House's owner at the time, Ambrose Small, deposited a cheque for a million dollars in a nearby bank, and went missing later that day. [1] Before his disappearance, Small already had a reputation in Edwardian era Toronto as a gambler, and booked less reputable, more titillating shows to his string of theatres, including the Grand Opera House. The newspapers published every known detail of the police investigation into his disappearance, and soon it was revealed that Small had kept a secret sex room at the Grand Opera House, where he entertained numerous mistresses. [7] [8]
The concert hall never recovered from the fires, the neglect and the scandal, and it was unceremoniously demolished in 1927. [1] The site of the former Grand Opera House is now occupied by the 68-storey Scotia Plaza in Toronto's Financial District. [2] The sole remaining physical legacy of the concert hall is a small lane running south from Adelaide Street West, named "Grand Opera Lane". [1]
Ambrose Joseph Small was a Canadian theatre magnate who owned several Ontario-based theatres including the Grand Opera House in Toronto, the Grand Opera House in Kingston, the Grand Theatre in London, and the Grand Theatre in Sudbury. The last known sighting of Small occurred the evening of December 2, 1919. He had been known to travel without notice, so his disappearance was not reported until early 1920. His body was never recovered.
The Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts is a 2,071-seat theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located at the southeast corner of University Avenue and Queen Street West, across from Osgoode Hall. The land on which it is located was a gift from the Government of Ontario. It is the home of the Canadian Opera Company (COC) and the National Ballet of Canada. The building's modernist design by was created by Canadian firm Diamond and Schmitt Architects, headed by Jack Diamond. It was completed in 2006, and the interior design includes an unusual glass staircase.
Thomas White Lamb was a Scottish-born, American architect. He was one of the foremost designers of theaters and cinemas in the 20th century.
Front Street is an east–west road in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. First laid out in 1796, the street is one of the original streets of the Town of York. The street was laid out along the shoreline of Lake Ontario as it existed during that time. It remains an important street, with many important uses located along it, including the St. Lawrence Market, Meridian Hall, Union Station and the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The eastern section of Front Street, in the West Don Lands, east of Cherry Street, is being rebuilt as a broad tree-lined boulevard, intended to be the pedestrian-friendly commercial spine of the new neighbourhood.
The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres are a pair of stacked theatres 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.
Clifton Hill is one of the major tourist promenades in Niagara Falls, Ontario. The street, close to Niagara Falls and the Niagara River, leads from River Road on the Niagara Parkway to intersect with Victoria Avenue, and contains a number of gift shops, wax museums, haunted houses, video arcades, restaurants, hotels and themed attractions. It is a major amusement area and centre for night life, particularly for families and teenagers.
The Ed Mirvish Theatre is an historic performing arts theatre in Toronto, Ontario, located near Yonge–Dundas Square. Owned and operated by Mirvish Productions, the theatre has approximately 2,300 seats across two levels. There are two entrances to the theatre, located at 263 Yonge Street and 244 Victoria Street.
The Garden District is a neighbourhood in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The name was selected by the Toronto East Downtown Residents Association (TEDRA) in recognition of Allan Gardens, an indoor botanical garden located nearby at the intersection of Carlton and Jarvis Streets. The Garden District was officially designated by the Mayor and Toronto City Council in 2001, while TEDRA has since been renamed the Garden District Residents Association. Part of the neighbourhood is within official City of Toronto neighbourhood of Moss Park.
The Uptown Theatre was a historic movie theatre in Toronto, Ontario which was demolished in 2003. The entrance to the theatre was located on Yonge Street just south of Bloor. Like many theatres of the time it was constructed so that only the entrance was on a major thoroughfare while the main building fronted on a side street. A bridge connected the two buildings.
The Capitol Cinema was the largest movie theatre ever built in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, and was the city's only true movie palace. Opened in 1920, the 2530-seat cinema was regarded as one of the best cinemas designed by famed theatre-architect Thomas W. Lamb.
Downtown Toronto is the main central business district of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Street to the northwest, Lake Ontario to the south, the Don Valley to the east, and Bathurst Street to the west. It is also the home of the municipal government of Toronto and the Government of Ontario.
The Orpheum Theatre, a 2,308-seat venue listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is located in downtown Memphis, Tennessee, on the southwest corner of the intersection of South Main and Beale streets. The Orpheum, along with the Halloran Centre for Performing Arts & Education, compose the Orpheum Theatre Group, a community-supported nonprofit corporation that operates and maintains the venues and presents education programs.
Downtown Yonge is a retail and entertainment district centred on Yonge Street in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Downtown Yonge district is bounded by Richmond Street to the south; Grosvenor and Alexander Streets to the north; Bay Street to the west; and portions of Church Street, Victoria Street, and Bond Street to the east. All property owners and commercial tenants within these boundaries are members of the Downtown Yonge Business Improvement Area association, founded in 2001.
The East Pyongyang Grand Theatre (Korean: 동평양대극장) is a 2,500-seat theatre located in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang. It was the site of the 2008 concert by the New York Philharmonic, which was the first significant cultural visit to North Korea by the United States since the Korean War.
Koster and Bial's Music Hall was an important vaudeville theatre in New York City, located at Broadway and Thirty-Fourth Street, where Macy's flagship store now stands. It had a seating capacity of 3,748, twice the size of many theaters. Ticket prices ranged from 25¢ for a seat in the gallery to $1.50 for one in the orchestra. The venue was founded by John Koster (1844-1895) and Albert Bial (1842-1897) in the late 19th century and closed in 1901.
St. Andrew's United Church is an historic congregation of the United Church of Canada in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located in the city's downtown core near the intersection of Yonge and Bloor it is a combination of five other downtown Toronto congregations. The church originated from St. Andrew's Church, founded in 1830 as the first Church of Scotland congregation in what was then the town of York. The original St. Andrew's was located at the corner of Adelaide and Church Streets. By the 1870s it had become clear that a new church was needed. The downtown core had moved westward, and most of the congregation wanted to shift in that direction as well, but a minority staunchly opposed the idea. With the congregation thus split, the majority moved to a new structure at King and Simcoe in 1876 that still exists today as St. Andrew's Church.
The St. Lawrence Centre for the Arts is a performing arts theatre complex located in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Situated on Front Street one block east of Yonge Street, it was the City of Toronto's official centennial project, commemorating the 1967 Canadian Centennial. It houses two auditoriums, the 868-seat Bluma Appel Theatre and the 499-seat Jane Mallett Theatre.
The Boston Opera House, also known as the Citizens Bank Opera House, is a performing arts and esports venue located at 539 Washington St. in Boston, Massachusetts. It was originally built as the B.F. Keith Memorial Theatre, a movie palace in the Keith-Albee chain. The chain became part of RKO when it was established just before the theater opened on October 29, 1928, and it was also known as the RKO Keith's Theater. After operating for more than 50 years as a movie theater, it was rededicated in 1980 as a home for the Opera Company of Boston, which performed there until the opera company closed down in 1990 due to financial problems. The theater was reopened in 2004 after a major restoration, and it currently serves as the home of the Boston Ballet and also hosts touring Broadway shows.
Massey Tower is a new complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, being built spanning the block below Shuter Street, between Yonge and Victoria streets. The Northeast corner of the complex will add much needed backstage space to historic Massey Hall. To the south of the complex lies the historic Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres. The Yonge Street facade will use the 1905 Canadian Bank of Commerce headquarters, at 197 Yonge Street, vacant since 1987. The complex's tower will rise 60 storeys and stand 208.3 metres (683 ft) in height.
Shea's Hippodrome was a historic film and play theatre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Hippodrome was located in downtown Toronto, at the southwest corner of Albert and Bay streets. At its opening in 1914, it was the largest movie palace in Canada, and one of the largest vaudeville theatres in the world. The Hippodrome included 12 opera boxes, a Wurlitzer organ, as well as a full-size orchestra pit. It debuted some of Canada's first non-silent films. It was built by brothers Jerry and Michael Shea and situated directly across from Toronto's City Hall. The Hippodrome was operated by Famous Players and managed for decades by Leonard N. Bishop. It was demolished in 1957 to make way for Toronto's new City Hall.
