Century Theatre
12 Mary Street,
Hamilton,
ON
L8
12 Mary Street,
Hamilton,
ON
L8
6 people
favorited this theater
The Lyric Theatre opened in April 1913 with over 2,000 seats, as a vaudeville theatre. In 1914, the Keith Vaudeville Circuit had taken over and eventually movies were introduced.
It was extensively remodeled in 1922 and again in 1940 when it was purchased by 20th Century Theatres. They employed Toronto architects Kaplan & Sprachman to design a modern Art Deco style interior and it was renamed Century Theatre. Further remodeling was undertaken in 1967. It switched operators from 20th Century Theatres to Famous Players in 1979.
The theater closed in 1989 with “Lethal Weapon 2”, and stood empty and unused until January 2010, when it was demolished.
Contributed by
Chad Irish, Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 106 comments)
Did anyone getdemolition photos or was there any news coverage on the demolition of the Century?
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Tons of stuff there. Let me know if you need any further input.
Chuck there are almost 400 images of the demolition on the facebook page.. The most recent were taken today
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Chuck there is a You tube video here..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AvpTESNCcFc
What a shame!!!!!
Was able to spend the mornings this week to watch the destruction of the Century. Spent time with Mark M. and I believe Rich and Rob who was a usher there in it’s last days as a movie theatre. Will post on facebook the pictures I took. Was also able to get one of the Hamilton red bricks from the outside walls and a white brick fron the original back wall of the stage area.
As a result of the interest and the momentum generated in the Facebook page group, I’ve set up a blog as a means to an end; setting up an actual ‘memorial’ site for The Century.
That blog can be found here: [url]http://thecenturytheatre.blogspot.com/[/url]
All interested parties are invited to contribute.
I was at the demolition site last week and was able to pick up a couple of bricks. They both had the word HAMILTON stamped on them. Is it safe to assume these came from a local brick manufacturer from the period?
There is a long-standing brick company on Lawrence Road, at the base of the Niagara Escarpment, just west of Ottawa Street. It seems entirely likely that what you found might well have originated here.
I found a Century Theatre ticket stub for a reserved-seating screening of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. Check it out at SilentToronto.com!