Discover Toronto's history as told through its plaques

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Allen's Danforth Theatre 1919

Photos by contributor Wayne Adam - Posted June, 2010

Photo Source - Wikimedia Commons

On the south side of Danforth Avenue, just east of Broadview Avenue, stands this building. A 2008 Heritage Toronto plaque erected with support from the Riverdale Historical Society has this to say:

Coordinates: 43.676330 -79.35737

Click here for a larger map

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 webpages
The Music Hall
Georgian Revival
Adamesque

More Heritage Toronto/Riverdale Historical Society plaques
Cranfield House 1902
Dingman's Hall (later Broadview Hotel) 1891
The Don Jail 1859-1864
The Don River Bridge, 1803
Dr. Garon Cleland House 1906
Frederick Hubbard House 1909
Owen Staples House and Studio 1904
Poulton Block 1885
Riverdale Courts 1913
The Scadding Cabin, 1794
St. Matthew's Anglican Church 1890
St. Matthew's Lawn Bowling Clubhouse
Straightening the Don, 1890
Thomas Hogarth House circa 1875
William Peyton Hubbard 1842-1935

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