Allen's Danforth Theatre 1919

Photos by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted June, 2010

Photo Source - Wikimedia Commons

Here at 147 Danforth Avenue stands The Music Hall. Attached to the building is a 2008 Heritage Toronto plaque erected with support from the Riverdale Historical Society. Here's what it says:

Plaque coordinates: 43.676330 -79.35737

Promoted as "Canada's First Super-Suburban Photoplay Palace", this theatre was constructed for Jule and Jay J. Allen, pioneers in the Canadian movie industry. After relocating the headquarters of Allen Theatres to Toronto in 1915, the Allen brothers quickly added 10 local theatres to their extensive Canadian chain. The Danforth Theatre - built after the completion of the Prince Edward Viaduct in 1918 - took advantage of its rapidly developing neighbourhood. Designed in modified Georgian Revival style by Hynes, Feldman & Watson, Architects, with C. Howard Crane of Detroit, the combination vaudeville and movie theatre seated 1,600. Its elegant auditorium featured wall panels of tapestry silk and richly detailed Adamesque plaster decoration. After the forced sale of many Allen theatres in 1923, the Danforth became the Century Theatre, and then The Music Hall. It is the best preserved former Allen theatre in Toronto. The symbol of its first owners, a stylized AT, can still be seen on its façade.

Related Toronto plaque
The Prince Edward Viaduct

More
Cultural buildings

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