Strand Theater
West Georgia Street & Granville Street,
Vancouver,
BC
V6Z
West Georgia Street & Granville Street,
Vancouver,
BC
V6Z
1 person
favorited this theater
Opened on August 16, 1920 as the Allen Theater, one of the first super deluxe movie houses in Canada. It was promoted as the finest and modern theaters in the country. It cost $300,000 to build and in just six months. After only just one year, this grand theater went bankrupt and was purchased for a nickel on the dollar.
At one point in 1932, the theater went dark for a year due to the depression. It had many modern amenities including a built-in cigarette lighters and boasted sculptures by Charles Marega.
Closed in 1973, there was much opposition to the Vancouver Centre project at the time because it mean’t the destruction to the Strand Theatre, The Birks Building and the loss of an iconic restaurant called Scott’s Cafe. The developers would not budge on the design and demolition came quickly in 1973. The Birks Building clock was restored and relocated to a new location and a White Spot Restaurant, which was part of the Vancouver Centre, is located where the Strand Theatre once stood.
Contributed by
Sean Jung
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Recent comments (view all 3 comments)
An article titled “Some Problems in Theatre Construction” in the July, 1921, issue of the Canadian journal Construction is illustrated by photos of the Allen Theatre in Vancouver. The facade, entrance, foyer, mezzanine, balcony, and auditorium are all depicted. Judging from the photos, I’d consider the architectural style to be predominantly Adamesque rather than Greek Revival.
The article is available online from the Internet Archive (for those whose browsers might not be compatible with that format, you can select other formats from this page.) Navigating the Internet Archive’s online reader can be tricky, until you get used to it, which is why I usually link to the easier-to-use Google Books when they both have the item available, even though Internet Archive provides far better page scans.
Interior photo from the City of Vancouver Archives: View link
An exterior view of the Strand from 1948: View link