Metropolitan Entertainment Centre
281 Donald Street,
Winnipeg,
MB
R3C 5S4
281 Donald Street,
Winnipeg,
MB
R3C 5S4
10 people
favorited this theater
Showing 51 - 75 of 179 comments
Once again another year has passed and little or no movement on the Metropolitan site.
I simply cannot believe the indecision and political red tape blocking the way to the Met’s survival; this is embarrassing to our city.
Last evening I attended the 100th anniversary of the Walker Theatre.
An eager crowd of 1600+ supporters showed up, making the event a success. The greatest gift to the Walker is the elimination of its debt! Well done and thanks to all who attended!
This is the kind of spirit that keeps our city alive.
To those who didn’t attend, keep an eye out for fundraising concerts such as this, the survival of our historical theatres depends on it.
Thanks for the update.
Agreeing with Sam, that really is a great idea. I would be very satisfied with a solution such as that. Good fit indeed.
Curious, has anyone mentioned this forum to the media / other interested parties such as civic counsel?
i beleive you’re right, sam. that is the best proposal heard in a long time. would be nice if it ends up a reality.
yes, bd, i hope you’re wrong that it’s not the nice kind, but i’m probably over-optimistic. it would be a terrible sin if there was a repeat of the capitol, but i don’t think that they can, though they probably want to, because of it’s heritage status. anyway, any further news, confirmed or unconfirmed will be gratefully received.
A full page article appearing over a week ago in the Free Press suggested that the Met would be an ideal permanent home for the Winnipeg Symphony. This was partly brought about by the WSO being evicted (although temporarily) from the Centennial Concert Hall to make way for a touring production of the Phantom of the Opera. It was feared that once hall management got a taste of the big rental fees they can charge to these touring productions, there could be more times when the WSO would have to find another location for their performances. The Met would be a perfect fit for the WSO, while preserving it in it’s original state. (It’s not the first time a former movie palace has found a new life for just such a purpose). Unfortunately the WSO is not in a financial position to undertake the burden of restoring the theatre without major outside help. Nevertheless this is probably the best proposal I’ve heard to date for the theatre.
Just heard that Centre Venture has possibly “secured a deal” however I don’t think it’s the nice kind of deal.
Apparently they are not ready to release it to the public.
Hopefully they will release it “before” they drive a wrecking ball through the met. A repeat of the Capitol would be shameful.
Does anyone have any info on the latest?
yes, gc, tearing her down to put up another faceless offive building is truly scary. like u say, they should just go ahead&spend $5illion, to turn it into something, and restore the grand dame to her old glory. they really need to put it to thd grindstone&finally come up with something viable. she’s sat for much too long, this is very sad. time to show people the stuff that wpg is really about! hopefully much different than other soulless places. thanks a lot for that, grand cameo. p.s.: somebody should print all this long list of comments about the met, and send it to centreventure&anyone invovled, to show the great interest still alive, re, the met. i haven’t lived there since i was a kid, and am very keenly interested on something being done!
The web address for that article:
View link
Scary to think that Magnifico thinks, word-for-word: “if someone wants to tear it down to put an office building up, we would look at that, too.”
The city’s had it sitting around on their “to-do list”… why not just spring the $5 million to restore it and make it a fantastic venue? $5 million is nothing compared to what the city usually spends on anything, and that way they could save the Met and maybe b8ulldoze the Centennial Concert Hall (since it has only stood sincethe 1970s). Don’t chastise me, but I hope you kind of understand what I mean.
I can’t see what I’m typing right now because there’s no side arrow to allow me to scroll down in this text box, so please bear with me.
This is from CBC dated July 4:
Future of Winnipeg’s Met theatre uncertain
Last Updated Tue, 04 Jul 2006 12:05:42 EDT
CBC News
Developers have abandoned a plan to convert the old Metropolitan Theatre into a rock ‘n’ roll museum, putting the future of the downtown Winnipeg theatre on shaky ground.
The downtown development agency, CentreVenture, had been working with the idea of restoring the 87-year-old heritage building and transforming it into a non-profit museum that would showcase Canadian rock stars.
But a formal proposal expected from a group of Winnipeg business people didn’t materialize.
A spokesperson for CentreVenture said this week that the proposal is not going ahead in its current form.
Coun. Franco Magnifico, who chairs the city’s downtown development committee, told CBC News there is still considerable interest in the old Met.
“I’d love to preserve if, if we can in an economical and efficient manner. On the other hand, I don’t want to see it sit vacant for 20 years because it has some historical value,” Magnifico said.
“We have great historical buildings in Winnipeg, and we have maintained a lot of them, and we try and preserve whatever we can. It doesn’t mean you can save them all,” he added.
“Down the road, I guess if there is no other option, if someone wants to tear it down to put an office building up, we would look at that, too. But that hasn’t come to the table. We would love to save that building.”
Only theatre left of its kind
Magnifico plans to meet with the business group that was planning to submit the hall of fame proposal to determine if anything can be done to revive the plan for the national historic site.
“Maybe the stumbling block we are talking about isn’t as fantastic as stopping the project entirely,” he said.
“I don’t know why they pulled out the way they did … I just want to find out.”
Meanwhile, CentreVenture is again calling for development proposals for the Met, located on Donald Street across from the new MTS Centre.
The neo-classical style Met is the only theatre of its kind remaining in Winnipeg in its original form; other similar theatres, such as the Capitol, have been demolished or renovated.
The 24,000-square-foot building has twin staircases leading to a large mezzanine level, as well as original mirrors, plasterwork and wall fixtures.
The domed plaster ceiling and massive chandelier still hang in the 2,500-seat auditorium, although CentreVenture officials note “serious plaster problems” have been discovered.
The building has been mostly unused for almost 20 years, although it has been heated. CentreVenture admits it would require “significant work” to bring the building up to code.
If Cummings' past involvement with the Walker theatre is any indicator, I don’t hold much hope for any help with the Met. In return for renaming the Walker theatre after him, (By the way I’m not in favor of renaming historic buildings and other sites just on a whim) he was to promote that theatre and also return a portion of proceeds from concert appearances, etc. (how many of those has he had lately?) towards the ongoing restoration, operating costs and retirement of the mortgage. There has been nothing but silence on that front since the announcement several years ago. The mortgage is still in arrears and I’m not sure what has been done recently as far as further restoration is concerned. Based on that do you think the Met would fare any better? When it comes to monied people, I’m sure they have been approached by CentreVenture and other powers that be already and have little or no interest in the project.
ah ha, thanks for the heads up. would have been nice if he was truly involved. it would be a help if someone if influence and money was in there, to get the ball rolling. anyone tried mass prayer to st. jude?(half joking, bordering on serious!). anyway, keep any tidbits coming g c&thanks.
Burt wasn’t involved… he’s just had business dealings with them all in the past, so it was more to boost his ego, because, he’s only, like, Winnipeg’s biggest rock star! rolls eyes.
glad to hear all hope isn’t lost. just hope SOMETHING will be done, rather than it sit like it is. wasn’t burton cummings involved initially? did he pull out, or is there some interest. he managed to do something with the odeon. i’m sure he also went to the met, when he was a young lad.
Hmm, this is just a couple of weeks after a news blurb on CKY TV said that the project was not yet dead in the water. I’m thinking that the mayor has more than a little interest in seeing this plan go ahead. After all one of his business partners proposed the idea in the first place. Since there is supposedly another national (?) R'n'R museum already, why would anyone want to have another one in competition with it.
The Gaiety/Eve/Colony had two staircases at either end of the lobby ascending to the auditorium, very similar to the original Garrick theatre layout. You arrived at a cross aisle where you could go down to the orchestra section or up to the mezzanine. There was no balcony. It was an early form of stadium seating. In the lobby between the two staircase entrances was the concession stand. The interior photos of the Colony appear to show that the floor plan had never been altered since it was built as the Gaiety.
Apparently CentreVenture has posted another call for proposals because most of the investors in the museum pulled out.
Didn’t the Colony have a huge staircase almost the width of the building? (I have dial-up, so I’m anxiously awaiting the pictures to load).
Oh, and IMHO, that woman who ran FOM completely ran the group into the ground.
i just read on the internet that the plans for the museum have been dropped. presuming this decision is final, guess it’s back to the drawing board. have any new ideas been mentioned? i hope it won’t sit vacant&unused for another 20 years.
Ken, Great photos of the Colony. The interior shots looks much as it did when it was the Gaiety. It appears that not much other than replace the signage to correspond to the various name changes was ever done. The shop under the marquee to the left of the entrance was where Strain’s was located. It was there through the 1960’s (I know since I bought my first tape deck there back then). The exterior went through at least one remodelling, but until it was demolished it appears as it does in your photos. Perhaps in an earlier life the entrance lobby ran the full width under the marquee, but after it was remodelled in the 50’s a store was always
there. (they may have taken a piece of the lobby to incorporate the store). The only difference appears to be that the area under the marquee was clad in red vitrolite originally and this was replaced later. The marquee is the one that was installed in the early 50's
remodelling.
The Capitol photos are extremely saddening to see. If you haven’t done so already, your link to the photos should be posted on the Capitol theatre site on CT too.
PS if you look at the photos of the colony, in one of the photos of what looks like a front plate you can almost see the gold word GAIETY, i didn’t see it till i got the film printed, much to my surprise. Ken
Good Day to you all, first of all i have now included some PHOTOS of the COLONY theatre, as for some information to start off, the order of the theatre was as follows,, Gaiety/Eve/Colony, sorry there Sam,, and in the end O' calcatte was the shop on the corner which at onetime was the entrance as i was told. as for strain"s cameras being there i don’t recall but it could have been. As for the history of the photos that if you scroll up and find my post with the link to the Met photos, there you will find some of the last photos taken in the Colony, these were taken during the after hours staff party, I was working at the Garden City location that nite and after the last show let out me and Ed, one of the projection staff went over and partied till the sun came up, i took the time to stop and get my camera gear, and took some photos, and toured a bit more, which took me to the basement and to the top of the screen, when you look at the photos you will see some faded shots one of those at the back wall has someone written in Aug 4&5, /43, in the room where the short stairs lead to the left there was an open room with a small window that would have looked out over the seats and some light fixtures on the back wall which looks really heavy i counted 4 from my picture, down stairs i recall there was in the letter room in the back wall which i didn’t get a picture of (one of my many regets) a huge Woodstock wooden poster, which i belive would hve been on the top of the marqee during which when the movie showed, it was rough looking, but if there was a way i would have taken it, ( my second reget there), i do have tho, one of the mirrors, i had two one broke, but i still have the orginal one that looked back at the snack counter and would have been there during the early years, very plain but big, something like 5 x 6 feet.
hope you enjoy these as they have been put away for some years in my boxs of photos. ,, Ken
ok, was hoping u had a bit of info. only info i did find once, on the web, had the opening&closing dates. beleive it closed in 1957 or 1958.
Most of the older neighborhoods had a local movie theatre. Unfortunately with the arrival of tv they were the first to be closed. In the space of only a few years (mid to late 50’s) the neighborhood houses all vanished. Some were demolished. Others were converted to other uses. The Elm sounds vaguely familiar, but so far I haven’t been able to find any information about it.
appreciate that info. do you know anything about a theatre on talbot ave, in elmwood, called the elm? i beleive it closed in late 50’s, but i remember seeing this theatre, long closed, going by on the bus. that was when i lived there in the 60’s.
On Main, from Portage to the CPR underpass, there were the three previously mentioned plus the Bijou (which is listed on CT), the Beacon and the Oak. There were many other theatres, particularly in the downtown area, but most were early casualties of urban renewal and were demolished long ago.
thanks bd, but that one was aware of already.—-and thanks for that info sam, you’re a real treasure trove of info, i must say. besides the 3 you mentioned on main, were there others there? and if u do get any more on any or all of them, it would be great.
The three theatres on Main are the Fox, Regent and Starland, still standing, but boarded up for years, condition unknown. That area is pretty much run down these days.
In order, proceeding west on Portage from Colony was the Furby, demolished, now a used car lot; Arlington, possibly demolished, current building in that area gives no clue as to having been a theatre; Valour, building converted to electronics store and the Kings, now an indoor flea market..still retains marquee, poster boxes and neon sign on the exterior, although portion of the sign saying ‘theatre’ has been removed. If I ever get sufficient info on
any or all of these theatres' histories I’ll submit them to CT for listing.