- Part Of
- Harold S. Kaplan fonds
- Architectural projects series
- Loew's Theatre (189 Yonge St., Toronto) sub-series
- Level
- Sub-series
- Fonds
- 27
- Series
- 1-1
- Material Format
- architectural drawing
- textual record
- Date
- 1913-1959
- Physical Description
- 57 drawings : pencil on tracing paper, blueprints and other reproductions ; 72 x 114 cm or smaller
- 1 cm of textual records
- Admin History/Bio
- Built in 1913, Loew's Yonge Street Theatre and Winter Garden Theatre complex was the flagship of Marcus Loew's Canadian theatre chain. The theatres were designed by Thomas Lamb as a "double-decker" theatre, with the Winter Garden located seven-stories above the street-level Yonge Street Theatre. This was the only double-decker theatre built in Canada and one of less than a dozen built internationally. The design was considered economical in that it provided a greater amount of seating on a given piece of real estate while allowing the theatre operator to present the same daily show in two theatres. The shows included both vaudeville acts and silent movies.
- In 1928, there was a major fire on the site and the Winter Garden Theatre was closed due to the decline in popularity of vaudeville. By 1930, the Yonge Street Theatre was solely a movie theatre, equipped for sound movies. Over the years it gradually fell into disrepair, but continued as a movie theatre until 1981. It was renamed the Elgin Theatre in 1978.
- In 1981, the Elgin and Winter Garden were purchased by the Ontario Heritage Foundation, and in 1987 the foundation began a two and half year, $30 million restoration of the theatres. The theatres re-opened in Dec. 1989 exclusively for theatrical productions.
- Scope and Content
- Sub-series consists of seating plans, blueprints of structural details, and floor plans, sections and elevations for successive alterations (to the entrance, lobby, basement, etc.) of the theatre. The sub-series includes a copy of a city building permit dating from 1934 for renovations carried out by Loew's Theatres Engineering Division. Some of the blueprints date from the original construction of the theatre in 1913.
- The sub-series is organized into 9 sub-sub-series, corresponding to project dates of 1913, 1919, 1934, 1939, 1949 (two projects), 1952, 1957 and 1959. The earliest materials, such as those from 1913 and 1919, were not created by Kaplan & Sprachman, but were no doubt used as reference materials for their work at the theatre.
- Please note that the blueprints of structural details such as columns and roof reinforcing beams may apply to the theatre complex as a whole, including the Winter Garden Theatre.
- Notes
- Title is derived from the formal titles of the drawings.
- Name Access
- Lamb, Thomas
- Elgin Theatre (Toronto)
- Winter Garden Theatre (Toronto)
- Subjects
- Theaters
- Physical Condition
- Some drawings are torn & damaged.
- Some are discoloured or damaged by deteriorating pressure-sensitive tape.
- Places
- Yonge Street (Toronto, Ont.)
- Accession Number
- 2003-6-1
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Harold S. Kaplan fonds
- Architectural projects series
- Proposed alterations to Loew's Winter Garden Theatre (Toronto) sub-series
- Level
- Sub-series
- Fonds
- 27
- Series
- 1-3
- Material Format
- architectural drawing
- Date
- 1946, 1968
- Physical Description
- 5 drawings : blueline and blackline prints ; 60 x 101 cm
- Admin History/Bio
- The Winter Garden Theatre was built in 1913-1914 and opened on 16 Feb. 1914, the upper half of a double-decker theatre complex which included Loew's Yonge Street Theatre at street-level. The theatres were designed by Thomas Lamb and were the flagship of Loew's theatre chain in Canada.
- The Winter Garden was an "atmospheric theatre", with a simulated sky and stars, columns painted to resemble tree trunks, garden scenes painted on the walls, and lanterns, blossoms and beech leaves hung from the ceiling. Performers would appear at both theatres, but the Winter Garden was considered more exclusive than Loew's Yonge Street Theatre, with fewer seats (approx. 1400), higher ticket prices and reserved seating.
- With the decline in popularity of vaudeville during the 1920s, the Winter Garden was closed in 1928. It remained closed and unused until 1981, when it and the Elgin (as the Yonge Street Theatre had been renamed) were purchased and subsequently restored by the Ontario Heritage Foundation. The theatres re-opened in Dec. 1989.
- While histories of the Winter Garden typically describe it as a "time capsule" which remained sealed and undisturbed from the time of its closing in 1928 until it was restored, the architectural drawings in this sub-series document two proposed renovations of the Winter Garden during those decades.
- Scope and Content
- Sub-series consists of drawings for 2 proposed renovations of the theatre, by Kaplan & Sprachman in 1944, and by Harold Kaplan in 1968.
- Notes
- Project reference codes 44-K-160 (Kaplan & Sprachman), and 68-6 (Harold S. Kaplan).
- Name Access
- Lamb, Thomas
- Winter Garden Theatre (Toronto)
- Accession Number
- 2003-6-1
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Harold S. Kaplan fonds
- Architectural projects series
- Loew's Uptown Theatre (Toronto) sub-series
- Toronto Theatre, Balmuto near Bloor sub-sub-series
- Level
- Sub-sub-series
- Fonds
- 27
- Series
- 1-2-6
- Material Format
- architectural drawing
- Other Title Information
- [1919]
- Responsibility
- Thomas W. Lamb, architect
- Date
- photocopied in 1960
- Physical Description
- 10 drawings : photocopies ; 46 x 67 cm and 41 x 41 cm
- Scope and Content
- Sub-sub-series consists of photoreproductions of Thomas Lamb's original plans and elevations for the Uptown Theatre, acquired by Kaplan & Sprachman in 1960.
- Notes
- Date of these reproductions is taken from a Kaplan & Sprachman stamp on the back of the drawings.
- Name Access
- Lamb, Thomas
- Uptown Theatre (Toronto)
- Accession Number
- 2003-6-1
- Source
- Archival Descriptions
- Part Of
- Harold S. Kaplan fonds
- Architectural projects series
- Loew's Uptown Theatre (Toronto) sub-series
- Renovations to entrance, mezzanine, auditorium and basement sub-sub-series
- Level
- Sub-sub-series
- Fonds
- 27
- Series
- 1-2-8
- Material Format
- architectural drawing
- graphic material
- Date
- 1919-1962
- Physical Description
- 25 drawings : pencil (some hand col. using pencil crayon), pencil on tracing paper, blueline prints and other reproductions ; 76 x 106 cm or smaller
- 3 photographs : b&w ; 44 x 55 cm and 41 x 52 cm
- Scope and Content
- Sub-sub-series consists of a wide range of floor plans, elevations and longitudinal sections, drawings of structural features and details of doorways, seating, balconies, etc. Also includes several hand-coloured drawings of the auditorium (of the stage area and longitudinal sections of the auditorium) with paint and fabric samples attached. The drawings of the stage are based on one of the photographs included in the sub-sub-series.
- Approximately half of the drawings are by contractors responsible for installing doors and other features, or are drawings from the original construction of the theatre.
- Notes
- Project reference no. 62-K-22.
- Name Access
- Lamb, Thomas
- Uptown Theatre (Toronto)
- Accession Number
- 2003-6-1
- Source
- Archival Descriptions