Winter Garden Theater- Toronto, CA

As a follow up to my previous post, the Winter Garden Theater is the second half of the last remaining stacked Edwardian theater in the world. Although constructed at the same time as the Elgin, essentially for the same purpose, the two theaters were vastly different.

The plush lower level Elgin, opened on December 15, 1913, was the larger of the two theaters, and marketed to the masses. The Winter Garden, opened on February 16, 1914, was intended for premium, big name acts like George Burns and Edgar Bergen; it featured reserved seats, for affluent patrons. Considered an “atmospheric” theater, it mimicked a country garden, complete with tree trunk columns, murals of plants and trellises, and a ceiling covered in beech leaves and lanterns.

Unlike the Elgin Theater, located seven stories below, once movies replaced vaudeville, the Winter Garden Theater was shuttered. It remained sealed off, behind a false wall, for more than 50 years- completely intact. Well, mostly intact: it’s roof leaked, and it became overrun with wildlife, but unlike the Elgin, no modifications were made.

Following the building’s purchase by the Ontario Heritage Trust, the Winter Garden was unsealed, and the past emerged. Original seats, sets and artwork were all still in place, unchanged since 1928. Following an extensive restoration, including the labor intensive act of cleaning the watercolor hand painted walls with bread dough, the theater reopened in 1989.