Strand Theatre

10209 Jasper Avenue,
Edmonton, AB T5J 1S5

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Additional Info

Previously operated by: Famous Players, Pantages

Architects: Benjamin Marcus Priteca

Styles: French Renaissance

Previous Names: Pantages Theatre, Metropolitan Theatre

Nearby Theaters

Strand Theatre

Opened as the Pantages Theatre, on May 12th, 1913, this theatre was for its first several years a vaudeville house. Designed by the then 22 year old architect B. Marcus Priteca, in association with Edmonton architect Edward Collis Hopkins (who designed the restrained, two-story classical business building in front of the theatre to support an additional thirteen floors which were never built), it was the most lavish theatre yet opened in the Canadian north.

In 1921, the name was changed to the Metropolitan Theatre, and it became a movie house. Closed briefly at the beginning of the depression, it re-opened on September 4, 1931 as the Strand Theatre, and remained one of Edmonton’s leading downtown cinemas for decades thereafter.

Despite having been declared an historic site by the Province of Alberta in 1976, the Strand Theatre was closed on December 30, 1978 with Elliott Gould in “The Silent Partner”. In 1979 it was demolished to make way for a massive office building.

Contributed by Joe Vogel

Recent comments (view all 6 comments)

rivest266
rivest266 on September 9, 2018 at 3:24 pm

Another Strand theatre opened on July 14th, 1919 and closed in 1921.

Joe Vogel
Joe Vogel on September 9, 2018 at 3:55 pm

This web page has a few photos of the Pantages, including two of the interior, which displayed many of the design characteristics that Priteca called the “Pantages Greek” style which he would use on later Pantages houses well into the 1920s.

DavidZornig
DavidZornig on May 25, 2020 at 2:03 pm

Pantages vertical sign at the Edmonton Neon Museum.
Photo added credit River Sky.

ScreenClassic
ScreenClassic on May 27, 2020 at 2:09 am

Based on Mike Rivest’s post above, the above ad for the Strand indicates that it was part of Famous Players in its later years.

[Famous Players Edmonton movie ads – December 30, 1978] (includes listing for the Strand)

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