Loft Cinemas
373 Yonge Street,
Toronto,
ON
M5B
373 Yonge Street,
Toronto,
ON
M5B
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Architects: John Wilson Siddall
Styles: Art Deco, Streamline Moderne
Previous Names: Big Nickel Theatre, National Theatre, Rio Theatre
Nearby Theaters
The Big Nickel Theatre was opened in 1913 with a seating capacity for 524. By 1922 it had been renamed National Theatre and was renamed Rio Theatre in 1943. It closed in 1991.
By 2014 former rooms upstairs (including the former projection booth) had reopened as the Loft Cinemas, screening adult movies in six rooms. The former auditorium had been in retail use, but was unused in 2014. The cinema moved upstairs and was closed in March 2017. It had been demolished by late-2019.
Contributed by
Christopher Walczak
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Recent comments (view all 27 comments)
We’re posting shots of some of our amazing Rio posters here: http://www.facebook.com/RioMoviePosters. There are still a few boxes we haven’t even catalogued yet!
The architect of the Big Nickel Theatre was John Wilson Siddall. I will upload a photo of the facade as it originally appeared in 1913, from the trade journal Construction.
This house had become the National Theatre by 1922, nine years after it had opened as the Big Nickel Theatre. Manager S. Garr’s promotional efforts on behalf of Universal’s feature Robinson Crusoe were noted in the July 29, 1922, issue of the studio’s house organ, Universal Weekly.
OK – look at the current Street View. The entrance to the left of the main adult shop says “Loft Cinemas” which clearly are an adult movie theatre that is currently open with “six theatres” and “14 mini cinemas”.
Does anyone know how that works? Is the former auditorium all carved up, or maybe the former balcony? Or could it be former office space above the lobby?
If anyone lives in Toronto I’d love to know.
The former auditorium no longer exists. The small screens (“the Loft Cinemas”) are upstairs, where the projection booth and offices used to be. The main floor recently went up for rent again. It’s empty now.
Article on the Loft Cinemas' most popular era, as the “Rio”.
http://www.blogto.com/film/2015/03/torontos_last_grindhouse_rises_again/
1980’s photo added, photo credit City Of Toronto Archives, via the below article.
http://www.metronews.ca/news/toronto/2016/10/11/downtown-yonge-bia-pitches-neon-sign-museum-in-toronto.html
This theatre closed permanently as of March, 2017. The entire block is scheduled for re-zoning.
I guess the giant skyscrapers will soon be displacing this diverse, colorful, human-scaled stretch of Yonge Street with more large scale monotony. I hope someone saves at least a few of the old buildings to leaven the mass.
The Loft Cinemas' status should now be set to Demolished. The former Loft/Rio Theatre building is no longer standing in the current Google Maps street view as its site, along with several neighboring buildings, has been cleared for redevelopment.