History

Loew’s Windsor Theatre

On February 12, 1920 it was announced that Marcus Loew of Loew’s Vaudeville Theatres had purchased lands on the Sound side of London Street and the West side of Pelissier St. for a theatre. The theatre would be built in the “modern” single floor style with a cost of about $ 600,000. Loew’s Windsor Theatre took nine months to build and officially opened on New Years Eve, December 31, 1920.

Designed by prolific theatre Architect Thomas White Lamb, the theatre was in his trademark style of Adam-Empire. One of sixteen Canadian theatres Lamb was to design, it held 1995 patrons. Lamb is best known in Canada for his design of Toronto’s Pantages, The Elgin and Wintergarden Theatres, and the Ottawa Capitol.

Marcus Loew financed the theatre by issuing $700,000 of Common Shares at a par value of $10 and $600,000 of preferred shares at $100 in Loew’s Windsor Theatre Limited. About 800 citizens of the municipality owned stock. At Loew’s bidding, a local company was put in place to lease the theatre: A.F. Healy president, Hon. J. O. Reaume, E.C. Kenning, KC., Lieut. Col. Alan C. Prince and R.R. Bogard, of Toronto. The men lost money quickly and were put into financial jeopardy.

By December of 1922 these men quickly leased the theatre to Simon Meretsky of the Windsor Theatre, Edward Glasco of the Empire Theatre and Dr. J.O. Reaume. The new company changed the theatre name to the Capitol Theatre.

The Capitol Theatre

Loew was financially over extended from his expanding theatre empire and continuing purchases of movie studios which prompted the original lease of the theatre. In 1923 he had a heart attack and retired before film really took off. He would have been one of the richest men in the world in a few years. Even so, at his death in 1927 he was worth over $30 million.

In 1923, the Capitol followed a programme of Vaudeville Acts with film presentations and the theatre joined the prestigious B.F. Keith’s Family Vaudeville Circuit. They also added a new orchestra in the pit. By March 1923 Capitol common stock was quoted at $8 a share. In 1924, Col. McGregor and W.R. Campbell united with Glasco, Meretsky and Dr. Reaume to from the Capitol Theatre Company. The Capitol Theatre, Allen Theatre, Walkerville Theatre, Windsor and Empire theatres were affected. The Windsor and Empire Theatres were to be closed, and the Allen Theatre was renamed the Palace.

Eventually, under much competitive pressure, this group leased the Capitol to Famous Players Corporation. In February 1929 Famous finally purchased the theatre outright after a Capitol stockholder fight finally ended in approval of the deal. Preferred stockholders were paid $50 on $100 shares and common stock was declared worthless. It cost Famous Players $270,000 to purchase the building.

In December 1929, a new canopy and electric sign were installed featuring neon tubing and the big sign directly in front of the theatre was moved to the corner. A programme of film and vaudeville continued.

In the summer of 1932 the theatre was closed for extensive renovations. A new “State of the Art” ventilation system was installed. New lighting fixtures everywhere and a circular cosmetic room was added for the ladies. 150 men were on the payroll for three months working on the project.

Emmanuel Briffa, a noted Montreal Artist, carried out redecoration under the supervision of famous Detroit theatre architect Howard C. Crane (Detroit Fox Theatre) and his Windsor associates Shepherd and Masson. Other Briffa contracts included Orchestra Hall, the Detroit Athletic Club, and Capitol in Halifax, and many theatres and churches in his native Montreal.

Briffa’s crew guilded most of the ceiling expanse and murals were added. The entire theatre was painted and entrance changed. New drapery and brocade as well as an ornate stage setting were added. New theatre equipment was installed. The general contractor was C.H. Clark, Builder and Contractor, of Windsor.

The Theatre re-opened on Saturday September 19, 1931 as the Greater Capitol Theatre. Maurice Chevalier starred in “The Smiling Lieutenant”. Vaudeville was starting to fade.

In 1949 Paramount Windsor Theatres Ltd., as the Famous Players Corporation was called, again used Sheppard & Masson Architects to design an exterior renovation that provided for new limestone facing and stainless steel on the exterior. Window lights, stone pilasters and most of the original architecture character was removed and a new “modern” look prevailed.

The Capitol Theatre and Arts Centre

In November of 1975 Famous Players closed the theatre to change the large single theatre into three halls with screens. The advent of the multiplex and high operating costs eventually convinced Famous to close the theatre for good in April of 1989 concentrating on the parkway and Devonshire Cinemas. The last film was a special showing of “Gone with the Wind”.

The Theatre was immediately offered for sale and purchased by the Mady Development Corporation. In October of 1989 Mady leased the theatre to Stage West Productions. To this day Stage West has operations in Western Canada and Toronto. They produced live professional theatre in the largest theatre. After running several shows with stars such as M*A*S*H’s Jamie Farr and former Supreme Mary Wilson, Stage West closed after a short time.

In 1990 City Council issued a demolition permit on the building. Under threat of having it razed and used as a parking lot the Arts Council of Windsor and Region leased the building with an option to purchase. The group struggled to open the building which had been abandoned for some time. On September 20th the Theatre re-opened with a Theatre Alive presentation of “Big River”.

On Monday February 1, 1993, Mayor Mike Hurst and Windsor City Council unanimously voted to give $1.83 million for the purchase of the Theatre. The Capitol Theatre and Arts Center (Windsor), a self-funded public trust to operate the theatre was born.

George Dadamo and Dave Cooke, former MPP’s announced on July 14, 1993 that the Provincial Government would fun renovations to the building in the amount of 2.87 million dollars. The Federal Government soon followed with a grant of $1.9 million for the same purpose.

After a year of planning and research, locating copies of the original Lamb drawings as a guide, constructions started in 1995. Over $5 million dollars was spent on the entire interior facelift. New mechanical, electrical, equipment and decor were completed on budget.   

Expert plasterers and restoration specialists were brought in to supervise local crews. The results are stunning. The Theatre re-opened with a Gala Event on September 8, 1995.

The Capitol; was designated Heritage Site under the Ontario Heritage Act in April of 2000.

The year 2000, a federally funded Millennium Project renovated and improved the exterior of the building. Among the improvements were new limestone pilasters and a cornice patterned after the previous ones. A pressed metal canopy was added and wooden showcases replicated. New wood entrance doors were also made using the original drawings.

There are now three wonderful theatre spaces in the Capitol Theatre and Arts Centre complex: The Pentastar Playhouse, The Daniel Patrick Kelly Theatre and the Joy Family Theatre.

The organization and its facilities are almost unique in Canada. As one of the busiest theatres of its kind at the time, the Capitol Theatre and staff hoped to serve the community for many years. They thought the future held many new ideas and plans to better serve the public such as the development of a production facility, training programmes, and an endowment to ensure future generations may enjoy the same benefits.

Sadly this all changed when the theatre went bankrupt and was closed. It stood there for a few years when the Arts community in Windsor finally convinced the City of Windsor to re-open the doors. Ever since, the Capitol has been booked most weekends with small and large theatre groups from the Windsor Area and the odd out-of-town performance. However, it still remains in bankruptcy and is currently run by two employees (a technical director and front of house manager) as well as many devoted volunteers with hopes that the Capitol Theatre will one day be up and running as a fulltime business again.

Majority of information taken from the Capitol Theatre’s Gala Programme 2001 for the Windsor & Region Walk of Fame “Star Designations”.