Snowdon Theatre (Montreal) facts for kids
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The Snowdon Theatre was a cool-looking movie theater in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It was built in a style called Streamline Moderne, which looks very sleek and modern. The theater was located on Decarie Boulevard in the Snowdon neighborhood. For 45 years, it was a popular spot to watch films. After it closed as a cinema, it became a small shopping center with a gymnastics studio. The gymnastics studio actually kept the theater's beautiful and fancy inside design! Sadly, after many years of being empty and uncared for, most of it was torn down in 2019. Only its front wall, which was changed a lot, was left to decorate new apartments built behind it.
The Snowdon Theatre's Story
The Snowdon Theatre first opened its doors in February 1937. Inside, it had a very fancy and detailed design known as Art Deco. A famous designer named Emmanuel Briffa created this beautiful interior. He also designed the inside of the Rialto Theatre and more than 60 other cinemas across Canada!
In 1950, the front entrance of the theater was changed. A new, bigger sign, called a marquee, was added. In 1968, the theater started showing movies just for adults. Later, in 1972, it showed Charlie Chaplin films for almost a whole year! After 45 years of showing movies, the cinema closed in May 1982. It was then left empty for a while.
New Life for the Building
In 1990, the old theater building got a new purpose. It was turned into a small shopping center. The large 25,000 square foot space inside was rebuilt by Rafid Louis and Emile Fattal. They split the theater into two floors and made smaller shops on the ground floor.
However, the original Art Deco designs on the walls and ceiling were kept safe on the second floor. This is where a gymnastics center called Flexart Gymnastics operated for several years. But the building wasn't very successful as a shopping center or office space. By the late 1990s, most of it was empty again.
In late 2013, Flexart Gymnastics, which was the last business there, had to leave. This happened because there were safety worries about the building's roof. After that, the building was boarded up and left completely empty.
Why the Theatre Was Torn Down
In January 2016, the city of Montreal, which owned the old, neglected building, decided to sell it. The building was falling apart. On March 26, 2016, a fire started by vandals on the second floor. This fire caused a lot of damage to the roof.
On May 4, 2017, the city found someone who wanted to buy the building. The buyer planned to tear it down and build either a new business or apartments there. The sale was completed on February 3, 2018, for $1.6 million. The only rule was that the theater's front wall and sign had to be saved.
In April 2019, the main part of the building was completely torn down. Only the front wall with its attached sign (which had been changed in the late 1980s to include French words) was left standing. By 2022, new apartment buildings were finished behind this remaining front wall. The old facade was kept, but it was changed quite a bit to fit with the new construction.
