Runnymede Theatre | |
---|---|
General information | |
Address | 2223 Bloor Street West |
Town or city | Toronto, Ontario |
Country | Canada |
Opened | 1927 |
Other information | |
Public transit access | Runnymede station |
Designated | 1990 |
The Runnymede Theatre is a historic building located in Bloor West Village, an affluent west end Toronto neighbourhood. [1] The building has operated as a vaudeville theatre, a movie theatre, a bingo hall, and a Chapters bookstore. The building is now a Shoppers Drug Mart. [2] [3] [4]
Commonly known as the "Runny", the Runnymede was built by the Capitol (later Famous Players) as an atmospheric vaudeville theatre, the first of this type in Toronto. [1] It officially opened in June 1927. The building was designed by Alfred Chapman, father of Chris Chapman, an accomplished Toronto filmmaker. Known for its music and stage shows, the large 1400-seat theatre, branded "Canada's Theatre Beautiful", quickly became popular and brought prestige to the west end of the city. [5] As an atmospheric theatre, the interior of the Runnymede was designed to transport its guests to an exotic place. The painted blue sky ceiling was adorned with clouds, where a complex lighting system projected an array of stars and airplanes. The walls were decorated with a mural, which produced an illusion of being in a courtyard. [6]
The building discontinued to be used for plays and live entertainment with the gradual death of vaudeville, and was subsequently converted to a movie theatre in the late 1930s. In the early 1970s, the building became a bingo hall in order to capitalize on bingo's popularity. In 1980, the building reopened as a movie theatre again, featuring two screens. In 1990, the building was designated as a heritage property under the Ontario Heritage Act . The movie theatre closed in February 1999 and You've Got Mail was the last film that was shown. Later that year, the building reopened as a Chapters bookstore, which closed in February 2014. In April 2015, the building reopened as a Shoppers Drug Mart. [2] [3] [4]
Spadina Avenue is one of the most prominent streets in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Running through the western section of downtown, the road has a very different character in different neighbourhoods.
Runnymede is a subway station on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth of the Toronto subway in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located just north of Bloor Street West, spanning the block east of Runnymede Road to Kennedy Avenue, with bus platforms at the surface level and entrances at both ends. Wi-Fi service is available at this station.
Bloordale Village is a Business Improvement Area (BIA) located along Bloor Street from Dufferin Street to Lansdowne Avenue, west of downtown in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It sits on the southern border of the Wallace Emerson neighbourhood and the northern border of the Brockton Village neighbourhood. The district is home to various and unique shops including restaurants, bars, vintage and thrift stores.
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.
The Greenwood Yard is a rail yard with support buildings that service subway vehicles on Line 2 Bloor–Danforth of the Toronto subway.
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.
545 Lake Shore Boulevard West is a former media studio complex located along the harbourfront of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at the intersection of Bathurst Street and Lake Shore Boulevard West.
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.
Bloor West Village is a residential neighbourhood and shopping district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bordered on the south by Bloor Street, it encompasses all businesses along Bloor Street between South Kingsway and Ellis Park Road, consisting of more than 400 shops, restaurants and services, plus the residential neighbourhood to the north. The official City of Toronto name of the neighbourhood is Runneymede-Bloor West Village.
Palmerston-Little Italy is a neighbourhood in central Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Its boundaries, according to the City of Toronto, are by Bathurst Street to the east, Bloor Street to the north, Dovercourt Road to the west and College Street to the south. It is a mature downtown neighbourhood. Within this official neighbourhood of the City of Toronto are two neighbourhoods, Palmerston and Little Italy and the commercial enclave of Mirvish Village.
Jarvis Street is a north-south thoroughfare in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, passing through some of the oldest developed areas in the city. Its alignment extends from Queens Quay East in the south to Bloor Street in the north. The segment south of Front Street is known as "Lower Jarvis Street" while the segment from Bloor Street to Mount Pleasant Road is known as "Ted Rogers Way".
Runnymede Road is a street in the west end of Toronto, Canada. It runs from Morningside Avenue at its south end and ends at Henrietta Street, just north of St. Clair Ave. There is a small section continuing but ends in a Cul de sac. At its southern end, it begins as a narrow 2 lane road. It heads north to Bloor Street, where it widens to accommodate bikes lanes. At St. Clair, the bikes lanes stop, and it becomes a 2-way street north until Henrietta.
The University Theatre was a single-screen cinema located at 100 Bloor Street West along the Mink Mile, just west of Bay Street in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The area was once home to a number of cinemas, most notably the Uptown Theatre.
The Koffler Student Centre is the main student centre at the University of Toronto, located at 214 College Street. The centre houses a number of different student services, including the main campus bookstore, career centre, and health clinic. The ornate building is located at the northwest corner of St. George and College Street streets in a building that was formerly the home of the Toronto Reference Library.
The Standard Theatre is an inactive theatre in Toronto that originated as the city's main venue for Yiddish theatre, and later became the Victory Burlesque, which would be the last traditional burlesque theatre in Toronto when it closed in 1975. It is located at 285 Spadina Ave. the corner of Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street.
Runnymede is a neighbourhood in Toronto, Ontario, Canada located north of Bloor Street West between Jane Street and Runnymede Road north to Dundas Street West. It is located directly north of the former village of Swansea and west of the High Park North neighbourhood. The immediate area around Bloor Street is commonly known as Bloor West Village after the shopping area along Bloor Street, whereas the area to the north is considered the Runnymede neighbourhood.
Markham Street is a north–south residential street located in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, one block west of Bathurst Street. Its northern end starts in the Seaton Village neighbourhood and it passes through Mirvish Village, Palmerston–Little Italy, Trinity–Bellwoods and ends at West Queen Street West at its south end.
The Runnymede fire hall, also known as Fire Hall 424, is a fire hall in Runnymede, Toronto, operated by Toronto Fire Services from 1928 to 2014. Then-mayor Rob Ford ordered the fire hall shut down, as a cost-saving measure. Toronto Fire Services repurposed the heritage structure, and reopened it as a public education center, on October 13, 2016.
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 Paradise Theatre is a movie theatre located at 1006 Bloor Street West in the Bloorcourt Village neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It first opened in 1937, closed in 2006, and then was to be turned into a pharmacy. However, it was restored and re-opened on December 5, 2019. The renovations included luxury features, such as an attached restaurant, bar, and table service to the premium patrons in the balcony.