Snowdon Theatre (Montreal)

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Snowdon Theatre marquee.

The Snowdon Theatre was a Streamline Moderne style cinema in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, located on Decarie Boulevard in the neighbourhood of Snowdon. After the theater closed, it was re-purposed as mini-shopping center with gymnastics studio, and then later demolished to build condominiums. Only its exterior facade survives.

History[]

The theater opened in February 1937 with a lavish art deco interior by designer Emmanuel Briffa, designer of the interior of the Rialto Theatre and 60 other cinemas in Canada.[1]

In 1950 the entrance facade was modified and a new marquee was added. In 1968 it showed X-rated movies. In 1972 it screened Charlie Chaplin films for approximately an entire year.[2] The cinema closed in May 1982 and was vacant.[3] In 1990 it was re-purposed as a small shopping center.[4] The 25,000 square foot interior was rebuilt by Rafid Louis and Emile Fattal, splitting the theater into two floors and sub-dividing the remaining space. The theater's original wall and ceiling art deco remained intact on the second floor, where a gymnastics center operated for a number of years. In 2013 the building was vacant again, then boarded up and left abandoned.

Demolition[]

The building was not a success with its retail shopping and offices and by the late 1990s was mostly vacant.[5] Flexart Gymnastics, the last tenant, was evicted in late 2013 due to safety concerns with the building's roof.[6]

In January 2016, the city of Montreal, who owned the building, put it up for sale. On March 26, 2016 a fire on the second floor caused heavy damage to the roof.[7] On May 4, 2017, the city found a buyer, who planned to demolish it for either a commercial or residential building project.[8] The sale went through on February 3, 2018 for $1.6 million, with the only condition that the building's exterior front facade and sign be preserved.[9]

In April 2019, the building was completely demolished, with only the front façade wall left standing with its marquee sign. As of April 2021, the condominiums are under construction.

References[]

  1. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2018-12-18. Retrieved 2018-12-18.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  2. ^ "Montreal Movie Theatre History". Movie-theatre.org. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  3. ^ "Snowdon Theatre in Montreal, CA - Cinema Treasures". Cinematreasures.org. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  4. ^ "City seeks to sell Snowdon Theatre". Coolopolis.blogspot.com. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  5. ^ Noakes, Taylor C. (27 March 2016). "Three-Alarm Fire Nearly Destroys Historic Snowdon Theatre". Taylornoakes.com. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  6. ^ "Accueil". Flexart.ca. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  7. ^ "Snowdon Theatre heavily damaged by afternoon fire". CBC News. 26 March 2016. Retrieved 27 March 2016.
  8. ^ "EXCLUSIVE: City of Montreal finds a buyer for Snowdon Theatre - Montreal - Globalnews.ca". Globalnews.ca. 4 May 2017. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
  9. ^ Claire Loewen. "Montreal sells Snowdon Theatre to private company for $1.6M". Cbc.ca. Retrieved 18 December 2018.

External links[]

Coordinates: 45°29′06″N 73°37′52″W / 45.48499°N 73.63112°W / 45.48499; -73.63112

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