Lyric Theatre
122 King Street W,
Kitchener,
ON
N2G 1A6
122 King Street W,
Kitchener,
ON
N2G 1A6
1 person
favorited this theater
The Lyric Theatre opened under Premier Operating Corp. Ltd. on May 9, 1921 with Wallace Beery in “The Last of the Mohicans” & Eileen Percy in “The Blushing Bride”. The company maintained ownership of the Lyric Theatre until February 1987 when they leased it to Cineplex Odeon who operated it until it closed on May 2, 1991 with Anthony Hopkins in “Silence of the Lambs”,
It was taken over by an independent operator and reopened November 21, 1991 with Leslie Nielsen in “The Naked Gun 2/half: The Smell of Fear” & Billy Crystal in “City Slickers”. It was equipped for 70mm projection. It was closed on April 17, 1994 with Thomas Ian Nicholas in “Rookie of the Year”.
On June 17, 1994 it reopened as the Lyric Dance Hall and last served as a nightclub. It was razed in 2002.
Contributed by
Chad Irish
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Recent comments (view all 8 comments)
The Lyric was purchased by the city and will be demolished in April. The theatre was an important landmark for many years. The loss of this theatre is not surprising, since most of Kitchener’s landmarks have been lost. Few note worthy buildings remain. The only landmarks left are houses. The Capitol theatre down the street is the next building on the city’s shopping list since the City believes that parking lots, low income housing and strip malls will make downtown the place where people, from all over southern Ontario will want to visit. The Lyric site will become, surprise, a parking lot. Kitchener residents have few choices for enjoying the arts. Two box theatres exist. Both are ugly and not worth visiting. Kitchener is, however close enough to Toronto and Greyhound Buses leave Kitchener for Toronto every hour.
By the way. The City of Kitchener is labeled “The Original City”
Its a really sad day when an old movie theatre like the Lyric in downtown Kitchener closes for good, just because they want to make room for a new parking lot.
Kitchener is also home of the “OCTOBER FEST” where all weekend long all they do is drink beers from around the world and party all night long. Kitchener residents should be a shame of themselves. There in only one theatre left in downtown Kitchener, and it a small 4 screen multiplex owned by Famous Players.
Next to the now defunct Uptown 1 in Toronto, the Lyric was, and is, my favorite theatre. Of all the many theatres, I have visited in Windsor, Chatham, London, Hamilton, Kitchener and even Toronto, the Lyric had the largest screen I had the good fortune to view. I had the very good fortune to see Lawrence of Arabia there on its re-release, just before it closed, when it was of all things, a bargain theatre!! During the last few months, I went to see anything that played there, even if it was bad!! $2.00 was not too high a price to pay to bask in the glory that was the Lyric!!!
Here is a link to view some old pictures and some history of the Lyric theatre in Kitchener Ontario Canada. Just click the link…
View link
Its too bad some of the comments of people from K-W are so negative.As in every downtown core in our province, people started to migrate from the core to the outskirts.Just look at what happened to Brantford!!It was the choice of the major theatre owners to close up shops in the downtown.It was after that happened that the city had to make some plans as to what to do with the empty buildings.I agree that it was too bad this happened but it was inevitable like in every other major city around.This theatre was absolutely gorgeous as was the Capitol right beside it.Peopls dont want to come back to the urban core and that is sad but true.The city has some plans for the king street strip.Once all the bars have closed(which some of these theatres became)things will clean-up and maybe the core will live again.It is sad that these buildings wont be part of this!!By the way-OKTOBERFEST is the largest Bavarian celebration outside of the one held in Munich and also offers a Thanksgiving Parade-the only one left in Canada.The fstival runs 9 days.
Here are updated links to the pictures originally posted by Chad I on October 19, 2004 of the theatre as it was in 1944:
http://ao.minisisinc.com/Webimages/I0011975.jpg
http://ao.minisisinc.com/Webimages/I0011976.jpg
http://ao.minisisinc.com/Webimages/I0011977.jpg
Opened on May 9th, 1921, and closed in 1991 and reopened December 3rd, 1993-1994. Owned by Premier who leased it to Cineplex Odeon in February 1987. It had 70mm projection.
The Lyric Theatre opened its doors on May 9, 1921 with Wallace Beery in “The Last Of The Mohicans” and Eileen Percy in “The Blushing Bride” along with Episode 16 of “The Vanishing Dagger”, a Big Clyde Cook comedy, and Fox News.
Premier Theatres was its operator in the mid-1970s who operated seven theaters in the Kitchener-Waterloo area, including the Lyric. This was followed by Cineplex Odeon after Premier leased it to the chain in February 1987.
After its May 2, 1991 showing of “The Silence Of The Lambs”, the theater closed for several months. The Lyric was then reopened under independent ownership on November 21, 1991 with “The Naked Gun 2½” and “City Slickers” featuring updated 70mm projection from its previous one, a 55ft screen (largest in the area), and six-track stereo sound.
The Lyric Theatre closed on April 17, 1994 with “Rookie Of The Year” (two cartoons were added as a special matinee on the day before its final night). Exactly two months later, the Lyric reopened as a dance hall retaining its Lyric name.