Project Description
Toronto, Ontario, 1987-89
Janis Barlow acted as Project Manager and Theatre Consultant to oversee planning, design, administration, construction, public relations and fund raising for this $30,000,000 project. Approximately 65,000 square feet of supplementary public, service and backstage facilities were incorporated into the restoration and adaptive reuse of the historic Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres.
The Elgin and Winter Garden were built in 1913 as the Canadian flagship for the Loew’s chain of vaudeville and photoplay houses. The complex is unique in Canada in that one complete theatre was built above another. It was inspired by a short-lived experiment with double decker theatres in New York around 1900. The upper theatre, the Winter Garden, is now the only historic roof garden theatre remaining intact and operating in the world.
A National Historic Site, the Elgin and Winter Garden Centre is the largest heritage theatre restoration ever undertaken in Canada. The quality of the restoration and adaptive reuse has been recognized nationally and internationally. The project was a government initiative and the building is owned and operated by The Ontario Heritage Foundation as a rental facility.
