Odeon Mall Theatre
116 Sparks Street,
Ottawa,
ON
K1P
116 Sparks Street,
Ottawa,
ON
K1P
2 people
favorited this theater
Additional Info
Previously operated by: Odeon Theatres (Canada) Ltd.
Functions: Retail
Styles: Beaux-Arts
Previous Names: Centre Theatre
Nearby Theaters
Located on Sparks Street, it was in the heart of Ottawa’s first theatre district. It was opened as the Centre Theatre on October 14, 1915 by one of Ottawa’s prominent movie families, the Stapletons, who were among the original franchise holders of First National, the distributing arm of Warner Brothers.
The Centre Theatre had long twin ramps leading patrons to orchestra and balcony seats, and a stunning Beaux-Arts auditorium. It remained independently owned and operated into the 1960’s when it became affiliated with the Odeon Theatres (Canada) Ltd. chain on July 11, 1968. They took over the operation from the family-run business and renamed it the Odeon Mall Theatre with the Canadiuan Premiere of “Wild in the Streets” starring Christopher Jones. This renaming reflected the conversion of Sparks Street into an open-air pedestrian mall. The Odeon Mall Theatre showed cult movies and some soft-core porno before shutting its doors in 1973.
The backstage was demolished with the intention of building a large office complex on its site, but the proposal fell through, and the front of the original building remained, used by small streetfront shops. It has since been demolished for an apartment building.
Contributed by
Alain Miguelez
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Recent comments (view all 9 comments)
The Mall Theatre / Centre Theatre facade is being saved and being used on a new 14 storey building going up on that site.
If they ever build it, that is.
THE MALL Theatre would run a wide selection of films such as June 1 1970 “I AM CURIOUS YELLOW” and “LOVE GODDESS” Back August 18 1969 they would be playing “THE BLUE MAX” and “VALLEY OF THE DOLLS”.
Nice photo of the Centre Theatre.
Reopened July 11, 1968 as Mall and closed October 2nd, 1973 The Mall was owned by Odeon and shown exploitation and adult movies. It closed when it could not compete with the adult cinemas across the river in Hull’s “porno alley” cinemas as Venus, Cartier, L'Amour and the Pussycat.
Under construction. Façade minus bricks being saved.
July 2nd, 1968 ad:
Mall theatre opening Thu, Jul 11, 1968 – 37 · The Ottawa Citizen (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) · Newspapers.com
Opened on October 14, 1915 with four two-to-three reel films (“Their Agreement”, “The Offending Kiss”, “Capital Punishment” and an unnamed Charlie Chaplin Essanay film).
Closed on September 29, 1973.