The last existing double-stacked Edwardian Theater in the world, the Elgin-Wintergarden is a marvel to behold. I bring people to this theatre just to show them the theatre, let alone what is actually showing there. While it is a live-theatre auditorium for most of the year, whenever the Toronto International Film Festival rolls into town, it becomes the classiest place in Toronto to catch a movie, gold gilt ceilings, plush seats, a huge balcony, and up until 2006 free beer (if you got there early and had a VISA gold card). While I did manage to catch a production of Stomp at the Elgin many years ago, I’ve seen dozens of films there, from Robert Lepage’s Possible Worlds, to Hayao Miyazaki’s Princess Mononoke to Park Chan-Wook’s Sympathy For Lady Vengeance to Terry Gilliam’s Tideland to Lars Von Trier’s Manderlay. Guy Maddin’s Brand Upon The Brain, with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, live foley artists and a Castrato singer was one of the best film watching experiences in my lifetime. Thus, it will always be a cinema to me. (Part of me regrets the poor timing of being too young to experience it as a sleazy grindhouse in the 1970s! One owned by Famous Players no less!)

This history of the Elgin is a long one indeed. Built in 1913, the complex was the Canadian flagship of Marcus Loew’s legendary theatre chain. Designed by Thomas Lamb as a “double-decker” theatre complex, it contained the Winter Garden Theatre, constructed seven storeys above the Elgin Theatre (originally known as Loew’s Yonge Street Theatre). The place has hosted Vaudeville shows before moving to full-time cinema, and in the 1970s was a fixture in showing soft-core pornography and trashy cinema, yes the theatre which now boasts a multi-million dollar ceiling was once a grindhouse. Here is a quick timeline of the theatres life:

1913 – Loew’s Yonge Street Theatre opens as the flagship for Loew’s chain of Canadian vaudeville theatres. Built by Marcus Loew and designed by architect Thomas Lamb
1914 – The Loew’s roof garden theatre, the Winter Garden, opens
1928 – Due to the decline of vaudeville’s popularity and the advent of talking pictures, the Winter Garden is closed to the public; the lower auditorium remains open and is wired for sound
1930 – Loew drops vaudeville in favour of an all-movie program in the Yonge Street Theatre
1978 – The Yonge Street Theatre is re-named the Elgin
1981 – The Ontario Heritage Trust purchases the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres to restore them for use as a performing arts complex. What is believed to be the world’s largest collection of vaudeville scenery is purchased along with the building – pieces from the collection are displayed in the cascading lobbies
1982 – The Winter Garden Theatre is declared a National Historic Site
1984 – Retrofit of the Elgin Theatre and restoration of the colonnaded lobby takes place
1985 – The celebrated production of “Cats” opens in the Elgin Theatre for a two-year run
1989 – December 15: After almost three years of restoration, the grand reopening of the historic Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres takes place.

The 7 storey walk-up to the Wintergarden is a bit on the huffing side of those not in shape, but it is worth the walk (or for the lazy set, the vintage 1930s elevator ride). Nearly the same size as the Elgin beneath it, and decorated with thousands of glazed branches and leaves, it is a small Greco-Roman wonderland. Seeing Olivier Assayas cultured “Summer Hours” was a more fitting film than Johnnie To’s much bloodier “Mad Detective,” but anything in this gorgeous auditorium is a treat.

You want to just reach up and touch the branches. In the balcony this is entirely possible!