Downtown Theatre
102 James Street N,
Hamilton,
ON
LR8
102 James Street N,
Hamilton,
ON
LR8
1 person
favorited this theater
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Closed in 1961.
Reopened as Downtown on December 31st, 1954
Downtown theatre opening ½ 31 Dec 1954, Fri The Hamilton Spectator (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) Newspapers.com
and some history at:
It opened as Grand Opera House on November 29th, 1880, and reopened on September 23rd, 1935. Grand opening ads posted.
Sorry. I left out the blockquote code in that comment, but CT’s spam filter system won’t let me post a corrected version. Maybe I’ll remember to fix it later.
This article about the Grand Opera House was published in the May 27, 1905 issue of The Billboard:“Contracts were let on the 15th inst. between A. J. Small of Toronto, Can., and the Fuller Claflin Theatre Building Co., occupying the Department of Building of the New York Theatrical Stock Exchange, 1440 Broadway, for what will amount to practically a rebuildng of the Grand Opera House, Hamilton, Ontario. Work is to be started on the 29th inst., and to be finished on August 25th.
“The work will consist of building an enlarged stage in the rear of the present theatre, thereby increasing the present depth of the auditorium about 25 feet. An entirely new and enlarged balcony and gallery will be constructed and the first floor will be entirely rebuilt on modern lines.
“A new steam-heating system and a new electric lighting system will be installed. The reconstruction of the theatre, when completed, will make the Grand Opera House at Hamilton a thoroughly modern and up-to-date structure in every paticular, and equal to the majority of new theatres in the country.
“Mr. Small controls more than a score of theatres in Canada. Present improvements are in line with the progressive policy which he has inaugurated and intends following throughout his entire chain of houses.”A Skyscraper page forum post about Hamilton’s theaters said that this 1905 rebuild expanded the Grand’s seating capacity to 1,780. It seems plausible, though seating was likely reduced again in later years.
Thank you Joe. It has been a long, long time since I saw a Granada Theatre marquee. So very much appreciative of the artcle from 1955.
Linkrot repair: The two-page, 1955 Boxoffice article about the remodeling of the Granada into the Downtown Theatre now begins at this link.
I’m a former Dowontown Theatre employee (March, 1957/January, 1958) and have many fond memories of the place from both when I worked there and even more, in its previous incarnation as the Granada Theatre. I was living in Toronto at the time the Downtown was being demolished but had returned on that particular Saturday to visit my folks. Walking from the old CN Station up James Street I came upon the destruction in progress but managed to save the last posted showtimes for the last program the theatre played. Regretfully, it has since gotten lost in the mists of times. But there are memories, lots nad lots of very warm memories. I hate the look of that awful strip mall that replaced the theatre and the hotel adjacent to it and now also hate the look of what is left of the Tivoli Theatre. It’s all very sad, very sad indeed!
Thanks for this Joe. There were pictures of the interior that I had never seen before.
The remodeling of the Granada Theatre and its reopening as the Downtown Theatre was the subject of an article in Boxoffice Magazine, April 2, 1955. The limited-budget project, done in-house by the Famous Players circuit, included the removal of much of the Granada’s old decoration, but (unfortunately) not the columns supporting the ancient balcony. A number of the Downtown’s 853 new seats must have been virtually unusable due to these columns interfering with their view of the new CinemaScope screen.
A few before-and-after photos illustrated the Boxoffice article.
There is also an exterior photo of the Grand Theatre and its neighbor the Tivoli Theatre from 1923 at this site here
http://www.architecturehamilton.com/tours.html
Picture is the black and white one second down
Here is the listing from the Julius Chan Guide (1902) about this theatre.
HAMILTON Pop., 65,000. Grand
Opera House. C. J. Whitney and A. J.
Small, lessees and mgrs. A. R. Loudon,
local representative. S. c., 1,144. Ilium.,
elec. no direct, 104 alt. E. Lavis, stage
carp. Width proscenium opening, 30 ft.
Height, 27 ft. Depth, footlights to back
wall, 36 ft. Dist. curtain line to foot-
lights, 2 ft. Dist. bet. side walls, 55 ft.
Dist. bet. fly girders, 46 ft. Stage to fly
gallery, 23 ft. Stage to rigging loft, 6V
ft. No grooves. Depth under stage, 8
ft. 4 traps, i bridge, in 3 sections, locat-
ed back of 4. Scene room. Theatre on
ground floor. I. A. Lomas, leader of or-
chestra. 7 in orchestra. Printing re-
quired, 12 stands, 60 3-sheets, 400 lithos,
heralds, etc. Dates read, Grand Opera
House. Culhane Bill-Posting Co.
Newspapers “Spectator,” daily, even-
ing, Mr. Mitchell. “Herald,” daily, even-
ing, Mr. Pasmore. “Times,” daily, even-
ing, Mr. Davis.
Hotels St. Nicholas, $1.25 and $i.
Royal, $2. Commercial, $i. New Wal-
dorff, $1.50.
Railroads G. T. R., C. E. Morgan,
agt. Can. Pac., W. J. Grant, agt. Cana-
dian Transfer Co.
The Granada theatre opened in 1880 as the Grand Opera House in 1880 with 1200 seats. When a screen was added the name was changed to the Grand theatre. in 1935, the name was change to the Granada and again changed in 1954 to the Downtown. in 1961, it was torn down. The grand piano was saved and is now on display at Hamilton Place. The Tivoli theatre (Posted by Chad I.) was and still is located next door at 108 James Street North in Hamilton and the Granad was 102 James Street North.