Century Theatre
12 Mary Street,
Hamilton,
ON
L81 1A5
12 Mary Street,
Hamilton,
ON
L81 1A5
9 people
favorited this theater
Showing 76 - 100 of 100 comments
You are very welcome for the photos. I have plenty of photos of the interior condition of this theater as I have been there many times recently. Mark, you are right. The design on the wall of auditorium does have three on each side, except now they are not covered by red drapes. As for your question, Mark, The wall at the back of the stage would have been there with the screen. When this theater was converted into a movie house, they moved the entire stage up. They put up that wall to block off the back of the building where the Lyric stage would have been. It sits empty now with trap doors to the basement and I ladder to the east offices. There are also two basement accesses back stage and the door that now leads to the alley way. If anyone has any questions of the current state, feel free to ask.
Mike. Thanks for the pictures. From what I can recall of this theatre from the 70’s it’s present state looks rather depressing. It’s hard to imagin what this theatre would have looked like pre conversion days. I am glad that you were able to capture one of the images on the auditorium walls. I think there were three on either side but they were covered by red drapes when I went to the movies during the 70’s.
One question though, if you looked towards the front of the auditorium, was there a wall where the screen was or was one added after the seats were removed?
From outside, it’s is still a impressive building.
Thanks again for the pictures, Mark
Sorry about that. I did some account upgrading, and I made it publically viewable. It was private last time. So yes, just follow the link again and it should work. If not, just tell me again!
View link
Mike: Gotta a better link? All that one brings me to is a login page. Without a password it is useless….
Follow this link to my photobucket gallery for The Century. The pics are decent, but I have better. Enjoy
View link
The Lyric is my favourite theater in this city. Over the past 3 months, I'v been in and out of there. The plans to convert that theater into lofts are there, but they have been floating around for about 7 years. Before that idea, they wanted to convert it into a club, which is why all the seats were removed. The balcony is still standing. Its directly above the false ceiling which is plaster. The roof of the building had collapsed into the balcony, and still sits there today. I'v crawled through the that area, under the roof. Its very depressing to see it like that. Such a beautiful building. The lofts idea was only to use part of the building. The owner wanted to keep the front foyer, convert in, and then tear the rest of the building down.
I have a photo taken on February 11th, 2007.
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I love this building.
Bryan: Be careful going through that side door in the alley…I park my car there everyday before going to work and see quite the “crowd” going in and out of there…BUT if you do get PICS please forward them to me….Thanks…Trevor…:–)
Mark,
I’ll be returning to the Lyric this weekend. When I was there, I was shooting for my portfolio, and didn’t take any picutres that distinguish Lyric for what it is.. a theatre.
So, I’ll be making a tour of photographs this time around.. you’ll see them in the week!
Hello Bryan. Any pictures? Mark
I’ve recently gained access to the Century Theatre.. which should officially be called the Lyric Theatre, as the facade sign says up top.
Inside, it’s very, very plain. It’s been mostly gutted. It’s INCREDIBLY unsafe, there are rotting floors in the rear where the offices are located, with many holes in the roof.
It’s very depressing to stand in the back area. Before the theatre was turned into a cinema, the auditorium was much, much bigger.. the new auditorium was built around the stage, leaving an empty area in the back.. complete with trapdoors into the basement.
There are massive holes in the roof, and the balcony that one overlooked the rear of the stage lies in ruins as part of the roof collapsed, crushing the balcony. It is very, very unsafe up there.
All in all, it was an awesome experience. The Lyric Theature shows signs of both old vauldeville, and new cinema. It’s very depressing.. but worth the trip.
I haven’t thought of the Century Theatre for years until I recently watched MARY POPPINS on dvd with my granddaughter…..I was an usher during the 1960 roadshow era at the CENTURY THEATRE..I remember well watching Mary Poppins daily for 6 months as well as THE SOUND OF MUSIC for a year…we really had a good time….the best of my late teens were spent at THE CENTURY….I would like to hear from any of the others I worked with…drop me a line at this website….
Alan Burt
Vancouver,BC
Thanks for having the camera ready Hamiltonmark!
The theatre/building still looks the same as it did when it was closed dowm many years ago. The idea of turning it into condos must have fallen thru. Every week I drive by this location to see if there is any activity (camera ready). WE can only hope.
Here’s another link to the same photo I posted on photobucket:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/theatrebuff/
Here is another one of the Century showing the complete outside. It was taken in May 2005:
[url=http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b189/mrchronoman/century.jpg]
I hope when its finally being torn down someone who lives in Hamilton can take some pictures to see what was covered up in the re-modelling.
Trevor Clarke
If you or anyone eles would like to see what it looks inside the Century in Hamilton now, please contact me @ and I’ll send you some photos. Thank you.
This theatre is sooooooo kewl! I would love to see what the inside looks like now, and just before it closed in 1989…Anyone got any pictures to share…???
The history of the Lyric/Century is contained in a 2001 city by-law to designate the building for the Ontario Heritage Foundation. You can read it at:
www.city.hamilton.on.ca/Clerk/by-laws/2001/01-225.pdf
Interesting to note that the Lyric/Century theatre was the largest in Hamilton with over 2000 seats when it opened in 1913 and the first in Canada with year round air conditioning when it was re-modeled in 1940.
This theatre was called the LYRIC when it opened. Even today if you look at the top of the building you can read the words Lyric on the half round sign. Mark
The Century started of as a vaudville theatre in the late 1800. it was converted to a movie house when the false ceiling was installed hiding the balcony.. I am doing some reserch on this theatre to get the exact dates. I remember going to see The Towering Inferno in the 70’s and wondering what was above the ceiling since the building from the outside was so tall. I also recall there being drapes covering sections on either side of the theatre.. At the time I did not think to look behind them to see what was there. During the movie someone could be seen walking across the stage behind the screen . A small light was left on which could be seen through the screen while the novie was playing. mark
Does anyone have any pictutes of the inside of this theatre before it was changed into a movie theatre and the false ceiling installed?.
The Century is, in fact, being converted into condos. There was an article in the Hamilton Spectator about it this week. In fact they said that they were going back to revise the plans to make the units bigger than they had planned.
I definately remember going there when it was still a running theatre. I remember a friend of mine didn’t like going there because she thought it was unsafe (the neighbourhood) but I loved it. I was so sad when it closed.
YOU ARE CORRECT. THERE WERE/ARE PLANS TO CONVERT THE THEATER BUT IT HAS NOT HAPPENED YET. HAPPENED. MANY YEARS AGO, SOMEONE EVEN HAD A IDEA OF CONVERTING IT INTO A MUSIC HALL BUT THE COST AND THE INTEREST WAS NOT THERE. LIKE MANY OF HAMILTON’S OLD THEATERS THAT HAD STAGES IN THEIR EARLIER YEARS IT LOOKS AS IT’S FATE MIGHT BE THE SAME AS THE CAPITAL AND PALACE. MAKING ANOTHER PARKING LOT.
THE CENTURY HAD A BALCONY WHICH WAS HIDDEN BY A FALSE CEILING WHICH WAS PUT IN WHEN IT WAS CONVERTED TO A MOVIE HOUSE. IT DOES STILL STAND BUT I HAVE HEARD THAT PART OF THE ROOF HAS FALLEN IN SO THE CONDITION INSIDE IS UNKNOWN.