ByTowne Cinema
325 Rideau Street,
Ottawa,
ON
K1N 5Y4
325 Rideau Street,
Ottawa,
ON
K1N 5Y4
5 people
favorited this theater
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ByTowne Cinema (Official)
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Famous Players
Architects: Harold Solomon Kaplan, Abraham Sprachman
Firms: Kaplan & Sprachman
Functions: Movies (First Run), Movies (Foreign), Movies (Independent)
Styles: Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Nelson Theatre
Phone Numbers:
Manager:
613.789.4600
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Dec 9, 2012 — Happy 50th, “Lawrence of Arabia”
- Oct 24, 2010 — "The Alamo"...Happy 50th!
- Jun 18, 2010 — "Jaws"... Happy 35th!
- May 14, 2010 — Please Post Today, May 14 --- "Jaws," Happy 35th
- Mar 2, 2010 — Happy 45th, "The Sound Of Music"
- Nov 18, 2009 — Happy 50th, "Ben-Hur"
The 940 seat Nelson Theatre opened on February 10, 1947 with Patricia Roc in “Johnny Frenchman”. The Nelson Theatre had a successful forty year run, and the theatre closed in 1987.
It was taken over by the independent operators who had operated the Towne Cinema after its lease had expire. It was renovated and reopened in June 1989 as the ByTowne Cinema with a reduced seating capacity of 770.
The ByTowne Cinema became Ottawa’s premier venue for first run art, independent, and foreign films. It was closed on December 31, 2020. It was reopened on October 10, 2021.
Contributed by
Chad Irish, Alain Miguelez
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Recent comments (view all 6 comments)
i wish to know if the bytowne cinema will display the movie “la turbulence des fluides” from Manon Briand
March 15, 1974 photo added credit City of Ottawa Archives CA024656.
Opening as Nelson on February 10th, 1947. English and French grand opening ads from the Citizen and Le Droit posted.
Nelson theatre opening Sat, Feb 8, 1947 – 15 · The Ottawa Citizen (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) · Newspapers.com
Reopened under new ownership on October 10, 2021.
Here’s a new 4-page 50th anniversary FIDDLER ON THE ROOF retrospective featuring a roadshow playdate chronology and historian Q&A. The Nelson’s lengthy run is mentioned in the piece.
This venue’s 70mm presentations history is included in the recently-published article “70mm Presentations in Ottawa: A Chronology of 70mm Large Format Exhibition, 1959-Present”.