Loew's Theatre
952 Rue Sainte Catherine Ouest,
Montreal,
QC
H3B 1H1
952 Rue Sainte Catherine Ouest,
Montreal,
QC
H3B 1H1
3 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Famous Players, Loew's Inc.
Architects: Thomas White Lamb
Styles: Adam
Previous Names: Loew's Vaudeville Theatre
Nearby Theaters
News About This Theater
- Jun 18, 2010 — "Jaws"... Happy 35th!
- May 14, 2010 — Please Post Today, May 14 --- "Jaws," Happy 35th
- May 7, 2004 — Loew's to Become a Foot Locker?
Opened on November 19, 1917 with George Rosener heading 6-acts of vaudeville, and on the screen was Norma Talmadge in “The Secret of the Storm Country” & Fatty Arbuckle in “A Day at Coney Island”. It was equipped with a Moller 3 manual 24 ranks organ. Loew’s Vaudeville Theatre was Montreal’s grandest movie palace. The theatre originally featured vaudeville as part of its programing before becoming a venue solely for motion pictures in 1940.
Loew’s Theatre closed in 1975 after the last showing of "Jaws". In December 1976, the theatre reopened with five screens with cinema one in the former orchestra area, cinema three in the balcony, cinema two over the orchestra, and cinema four and five in the backstage area. The opening movie was "King Kong" in all five cinemas, French in Cinema 1 and Italian in Screen 3.
The Loew’s Theatre was closed in October 1999, then part of the Famous Players chain.
During 2000 the division between the five screens was demolished, restoring the original single auditorium configuration.
Club Med World opened in the former theatre building in 2001, but closed in March, 2003. Since 2004, the former lobby area has been used for retail, while the former auditorium was transformed into a gym the Mansfield Club Athletique in 2005, using the stage door entrance at the rear of the building at 1230 Mansfield Street as its entrance.
In September 2019 the former theatre was purchased for over $20 million by a developer who planned building condominiums on the site. It was demolished in late-November 2021.
Contributed by
Mike Rivest
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Recent comments (view all 39 comments)
Last movie I saw there was “Boogie Nights” on October 31st, 1997. Cinema 3. Loved going to the Loews as it was part of Montreal cinema history. When split into 5 screens, the designer did his best to keep the original look. Unlike the Palace, when gutted into 6 screens, all of it’s former glory was gone. I read that the Capitol, torn down in 1973, was Montreal’s grandest movie palace.
I am very interested reading a post by dkidger from June 5 , 2012. He states that his father was manager at this Loews in Montreal in the 1960’s. Interestingly , my uncle John Peter Reidy was also a manager at that Loews late 50’s until the night he died at his desk in the theatre on September 9 , 1962. My sister was the last person in the family to see him alive. He would always tell us to come on down to Loews and ask for him at the entrance. He was also a member of the Canadian Motion Pictures Pioneers Association , having spent several years in Los Angeles working as an actor for Universal during the Silent era. If anyone can add to this I would be grateful as I am trying to find out as much as I can about his days in Los Angeles.
1955 photo added via Michael Granger.
PRESERVATION ALERT: To be torn down for condos ?
The gym in the auditorium section of the old Loew’s will close in September. https://www.narcity.com/nouvelles/ca/qc/montreal/le-club-athletique-mansfield-a-montreal-ferme-ses-portes-a-la-fin-du-mois-daout
La propriété du Mansfield à Montréal située au coin des rues Mansfield et Sainte-Catherine Ouest a été vendue le 31 juillet dernier à des promoteurs immobiliers.
Effectivement, il semblerait qu'après des années à refuser de vendre, le propriétaire a finalement cédé alors que le gym aurait perdu 1 000 membres depuis leurs meilleures années. Cette diminution de clientèle serait due à l'évolution rapide de l'industrie du fitness et le Mansfield n'aurait pas suivi la tendance.
https://www.gascon.ca/en/2019/08/06/sale-of-the-building-housing-the-mansfield-athletic-club/
Our firm is proud to announce that its real estate team, led by Me Nicolas Beaulieu and Me Émilie Therrien, had the privilege to assist and advise the owner of 1230 Mansfield Street, a landmark building housing the Mansfield Athletic Club in the heart of Downtown Montreal, in the negotiation of the offer to purchase and the sale of this property for more than $20 million to Brivia Group, which intends to redevelop the building.
Photo of this theater’s auditorium as gym http://www.montrealinfo.com/en/news/2019-08-13/closure-of-the-mansfield-athletic-club
scroll to last photo of this theater’s auditorium as Club Med https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/little-trace-remains-of-montreals-glamorous-theatre-era
Annonce d'inauguration en français publiée.
Bought by Bravia, a condo developer.
Loews bought up by Brivia. Fri, Sep 6, 2019 – A7 · The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec, Canada) · Newspapers.com
Television reports from April 2021, suggest that the demolition of the auditorium is planned, in order to build a 19 storey condo project.
Much of what has survived of Thomas Lamb’s decor, will certainly be destroyed. Some vague token promise to save part, and display it in an alley, seem like lip service to my ears.
I saw films at the Loew’s when I was a student in Montreal in 1987. It reminded me a great deal of the now demolished Uptown Theatre in Toronto.
I think it is a waste to tear down a mostly intact 104 year old theatre.
Demolition has started. Photo uploaded.
I think it’s such a great shame that such a historically significant movie palace has to be destroyed to put up some ugly condo project, I do hope that they can at least save something from the interior that has historical significance. Glad I got to see some films here in the late 90’s when it was still open as a fiveplex by Famous Players.
Montreal CTV News aired a segment tonight, on February 14, 2022, showing the Loew’s theater in its final stages of demolition. All that remains are some exterior brick walls, soon disappear, with demolition cranes sitting in what used to be its auditorium. Here’s the article and video:
https://montreal.ctvnews.ca/historic-loews-theatre-demolished-as-part-of-condo-development-1.5779957
Quite a stomach turning sight, the beautiful century old interior architecture was fully intact and should have been preserved! I am not yet over the loss of the Snowdon and Empress theaters in Montreal, also demolished to make way for condos, and now this. I still remember seeing iconic films in the balcony area (after it was sub-divided) in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Seeing architecture treasures liked The Loew’s destroyed is beyond sad.