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]
Harbourfront is a neighbourhood on the northern shore of Lake Ontario within downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Part of the Toronto waterfront, Harbourfront extends from Bathurst Street in the west, along Queens Quay, with its ill-defined eastern boundary being either Yonge Street or York Street. Its northern boundary is the Gardiner Expressway. Much of the district was former water lots filled in during the early 1900s to create a larger harbour district. After shipping patterns changed and the use of the Toronto Harbour declined, the area was converted from industrial uses to a mixed-use district that is mostly residential and leisure.
The Great Fire of Toronto of 1904 destroyed a large section of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada on April 19, 1904. It was the second such fire for the city in its history.
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 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 of the 20th century.
The Elgin & 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.
St. James-Bond United Church, at 1066 Avenue Road in Toronto, Ontario, was a United Church of Canada congregation from 1928 to 2005, when it merged with Fairlawn Heights United Church in the Yonge Street and Lawrence Avenue area. The "St. James-Bond" name derived from the merger of St. James Square Presbyterian Church with Bond Street Congregational Church in 1928. Prior to the merger, they were separate congregations downtown, of the Presbyterian and Congregational traditions respectively.
The Ed Mirvish Theatre is a 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.
Downtown Toronto is the main city centre 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.
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 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.
Colborne Street is a street running several hundred metres east of Yonge Street in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It crosses Victoria Street and Leader Lane, ending at Church Street. It is located between and parallel to King Street East and Wellington Street East. The street is notable for retaining several historic buildings built during the reign of Queen Victoria.
Massey Tower is a condo complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, spanning the block below Shuter Street, between Yonge and Victoria streets. The complex's northeast corner added 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 uses the 1905 Canadian Bank of Commerce headquarters at 197 Yonge Street, vacant since 1987. The complex's tower rises 60 storeys and stands 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.
Roxy Theatre was the final name of a theatre that operated from 1935 to 2006 at 1215 Danforth Avenue, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada's east end. It was designed by the architectural firm Kaplan & Sprachman, which designed dozens of neighbourhood cinemas, and opened under the name Allenby Theatre.
The Hollywood Theatre was a movie theatre at 1519 Yonge Street in Toronto, Ontario. It opened in 1930 and was located on the east side of Yonge Street, north of St. Clair Avenue.
Teddington Park is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is bordered by Yonge Street to the west and Bayview Avenue to the east, and from Snowden Road in the south to north of Glen Echo Road and Rosedale Golf Club. Development occurred in and around the 1930s, and was farmland before that time.