A great deal of this info is incorrect. In 1908, it was Wonderland, in 1909 it was the Colonial, It became the Princess in 1913, and opened as a theater/vaudeville in 1924 under the name of the Tivoli. Its very first movie played was a silent, The Rose of Paris (1924) (So sayeth the Hamilton Herald, September 27, 1924). I’ve found conflicting information, but it was allegedly either the first or third theater in Canada to show a Talkie, in 1926. So it was playing films long before 1950.
Famous Players owned them for a long time, like they did most of the important theaters in Canada. FP announced its intentions to sell the Tivoli in 1988, as they had a multiplex being renovated in the Jackson Square mall across the street that would house six theaters. Due to the fact that the building that was the Tivoli was attached to other structures and had been significantly enlarged since the carriage house/storefront in 1875, Sam Sniderman of the Sam the Record Man family had purchased the ownership of the Tivoli’s lobby when he bought the adjoining building to renovate as a large downtown record store (1988-1989). Famous Players still owned the auditorium, and two Thornhill men owned the entrance. Sam Sniderman’s brother, Sidney, allegedly played a large role in convincing Sam to purchase the auditorium in 1989 as well. In September of 1989, the Tivoli closed its doors as a movie theater. Its last film was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. 48 people attended the screening in an auditorium built to hold 752. (Wilson, P. Hamilton Spectator, Sept. 30 1989).
As part of the purchase contract with Famous Players, the Tivoli Theater could show no films for 20 years. It appears that this restriction only applied to what might be considered English-speaking mainstream cinema. However, theater was a more profitable venue than experimental and foreign films.
Unfortunately for the Tivoli, Sam the Record Man was not interested in footing the bill for renovations to the Tivoli to turn it into a theater house, though he had promised to make them. He was also not interested in running the Tivoli. He spent a few years trying to develop a committee to get the city of Hamilton to foot the bill. More unfortunately for the Tivoli, the city of Hamilton had already given an interest-free $225k loan of taxpayer money trying unsuccessfully to bail out another local theater, the Theater Terra Nova, in 1990, and the city was not too terribly interested in throwing more money into a pit.
The Tivoli went unrepaired and unrenovated. In 1990, it was approved by the Ontario Heritage Act to recieve the (very) small protection afforded with the designation of a historical structure, that being that there can be delays and appeals on the owner’s movements to apply for demolition. Tragically, and unbeknownst to people at the time, an error was made in the paperwork (gotta love bureacracy) and at this time only the front part of the Tivoli was declared a landmark, possibly due to the expansions made on the building.
In 1992, Sniderman leased The Tivoli to CrossFire Assembly (a christian mission) for $1 a year to escape property taxes on the structure. In 1997, CrossFire’s lease was up, and they left, leaving The Tivoli empty.
In 1998, Loren Lieberman and Vision Productions leased The Tivoli. Loren, a good man who I met personally before the theater collapsed, sank a lot of his own personal fortune into fixing up the dream. His people were responsible for discovering the amazingly beautiful original vaulted ceiling left over from the Princess, when they were investigating a leaking roof (it had been hidden literally for generations under a dropdown ceiling. Maybe it had been covered up in the large 1954 renovation, perhaps it was buried as long ago as 1924).
At any rate, the leaking ceiling, despite the treasure they found, indicated there were some serious issues with the building’s structural integrity. Loren begged and pleaded with the Sniderman family to repair the building, but they weren’t interested in sinking money into the structure. Finally, in June of 2004, part of the southern wall collapsed near the roof, leaving a large hole. Long story short, the City of Hamilton moved in to deal with a threat to public safety, and stripped the roof and upper floor, the marquee and lighted sign, and gave the Sniderman family a bill for $560k. Sam, to put it simply, was really POed and last I had heard, was suing the city because he didn’t think it should have cost that much (and probably wouldn’t have, if they had not tried to save part of the structure) and should be paid for by taxpayer money. He applied for demol permits, and indeed got most of the structure destroyed, even though the city struggled to get the rest of the building reclassified as a heritage building due to that whole 13 year old blunder.
A great deal of this info is incorrect. In 1908, it was Wonderland, in 1909 it was the Colonial, It became the Princess in 1913, and opened as a theater/vaudeville in 1924 under the name of the Tivoli. Its very first movie played was a silent, The Rose of Paris (1924) (So sayeth the Hamilton Herald, September 27, 1924). I’ve found conflicting information, but it was allegedly either the first or third theater in Canada to show a Talkie, in 1926. So it was playing films long before 1950.
Famous Players owned them for a long time, like they did most of the important theaters in Canada. FP announced its intentions to sell the Tivoli in 1988, as they had a multiplex being renovated in the Jackson Square mall across the street that would house six theaters. Due to the fact that the building that was the Tivoli was attached to other structures and had been significantly enlarged since the carriage house/storefront in 1875, Sam Sniderman of the Sam the Record Man family had purchased the ownership of the Tivoli’s lobby when he bought the adjoining building to renovate as a large downtown record store (1988-1989). Famous Players still owned the auditorium, and two Thornhill men owned the entrance. Sam Sniderman’s brother, Sidney, allegedly played a large role in convincing Sam to purchase the auditorium in 1989 as well. In September of 1989, the Tivoli closed its doors as a movie theater. Its last film was Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. 48 people attended the screening in an auditorium built to hold 752. (Wilson, P. Hamilton Spectator, Sept. 30 1989).
As part of the purchase contract with Famous Players, the Tivoli Theater could show no films for 20 years. It appears that this restriction only applied to what might be considered English-speaking mainstream cinema. However, theater was a more profitable venue than experimental and foreign films.
Unfortunately for the Tivoli, Sam the Record Man was not interested in footing the bill for renovations to the Tivoli to turn it into a theater house, though he had promised to make them. He was also not interested in running the Tivoli. He spent a few years trying to develop a committee to get the city of Hamilton to foot the bill. More unfortunately for the Tivoli, the city of Hamilton had already given an interest-free $225k loan of taxpayer money trying unsuccessfully to bail out another local theater, the Theater Terra Nova, in 1990, and the city was not too terribly interested in throwing more money into a pit.
The Tivoli went unrepaired and unrenovated. In 1990, it was approved by the Ontario Heritage Act to recieve the (very) small protection afforded with the designation of a historical structure, that being that there can be delays and appeals on the owner’s movements to apply for demolition. Tragically, and unbeknownst to people at the time, an error was made in the paperwork (gotta love bureacracy) and at this time only the front part of the Tivoli was declared a landmark, possibly due to the expansions made on the building.
In 1992, Sniderman leased The Tivoli to CrossFire Assembly (a christian mission) for $1 a year to escape property taxes on the structure. In 1997, CrossFire’s lease was up, and they left, leaving The Tivoli empty.
In 1998, Loren Lieberman and Vision Productions leased The Tivoli. Loren, a good man who I met personally before the theater collapsed, sank a lot of his own personal fortune into fixing up the dream. His people were responsible for discovering the amazingly beautiful original vaulted ceiling left over from the Princess, when they were investigating a leaking roof (it had been hidden literally for generations under a dropdown ceiling. Maybe it had been covered up in the large 1954 renovation, perhaps it was buried as long ago as 1924).
At any rate, the leaking ceiling, despite the treasure they found, indicated there were some serious issues with the building’s structural integrity. Loren begged and pleaded with the Sniderman family to repair the building, but they weren’t interested in sinking money into the structure. Finally, in June of 2004, part of the southern wall collapsed near the roof, leaving a large hole. Long story short, the City of Hamilton moved in to deal with a threat to public safety, and stripped the roof and upper floor, the marquee and lighted sign, and gave the Sniderman family a bill for $560k. Sam, to put it simply, was really POed and last I had heard, was suing the city because he didn’t think it should have cost that much (and probably wouldn’t have, if they had not tried to save part of the structure) and should be paid for by taxpayer money. He applied for demol permits, and indeed got most of the structure destroyed, even though the city struggled to get the rest of the building reclassified as a heritage building due to that whole 13 year old blunder.
Links to be found at:
View link
The original page is gone, but you can find a cached report on google of the city’s report at
View link
Sorry for the book, but if you’re interested in the theater, there’s some real history in it and it’s demise.