Capitol Theatre (Port Hope)

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The Capitol Theatre is located in Port Hope, Ontario, Canada, and is the last fully restored "atmospheric" movie theatres still in operation in Canada. Constructed in 1930, the interior of the auditorium was designed to resemble a walled medieval courtyard surrounded by a forest. It was also one of the first cinemas in Canada built expressly for talking pictures. It opened on Friday, August 15, 1930 with the film "Queen High" starring Charles Ruggles and Ginger Rogers.

The theatre was operated by Famous Players until 1987 when declining audience numbers made it no longer financially viable and it was left to sit empty.

In 1994, a small group of local individuals formed the "Capitol Theatre Heritage Foundation", a not-for-profit group and subsequently raised $1.6 million dollars for the intitial restoration of the Theatre. Another $3 million dollars was raised in 2002 for an expansion and further renovation and the Capitol Theatre now operates as a performing arts venue and movie house.

The Capitol is one of those rare architectural gems that only Hollywood could inspire. In 1930 after the closing of Port Hope's only movie theatre, Stuart Smart lobied Famous Players to build a new theatre, one specifically for talking pictures. The building was designed by the former President of the Ontario Association of Architects, Murray Brown, who oversaw the construction by Thomas Garnet and Sons, a local firm resposible for many landmarks of the area. Built at a cost of $80,000, this was the first building in town to use steel girder construction.

Common in theatre design at the time of the construction of the Capitol theatre was the layout of a small entrance frontage and a long narrow lobby with the auditorium opening out behind street-front stores. This was because taxes were based on street frontage, land for the larger auditorium was cheaper on back lots and a long narrow lobby connecting the entrance to the auditorium worked well for ticket line-ups. as a theatre built exclusively for talking pictures, it had a small stage, low rake to the floor, no back-stage facilities, a minimal number of washrooms and limited lobby space.

Built at the beginning of the "depression", the capitol was designed as an "Atmospheric" Theatre, a low cost, highly visual Theatre design.Twilight sky, hanging vines and castellated battlements are all part of the "another world of time" outdoor illusion, enhanced by clouds projected on to the seamless ceiling by a Brenograph. (an innovative illusionary machine of the 1930s)

The facade begins the illusion that one is appraoching a medieval castle with its leaded, diamond paned windows. The exterior Egyptian-motif "capitol" sign is original to the theatre, if inconsistent with the interior medieval courtyard theme. It was, apparently erected on instructions from Famous Players, and was not in the original designs. The projecting marquee emulates a drawbridge to the outer lobby with its stencilled detail, faux painted walls and original terrazzo floor, show boards and ticket window.

The Art Deco influence of the 1930s construction perios is most evident in the paint colours and stencils used in the lobby and auditorium. From the inner lobby with its original furniture, one ascends the steps to the auditorium where fescoed walls and ceiling suggest one is sitting in a medieval castle courtyard. the courtyard has been created with the use of faux plasterwork walls that are finished in 17 different colours. Ceiling plaster was applied in one continuous operation by recruiting a large team of plasterers from miles around, who worked around the clock standing on cedar pole scaffolding, to obtain a seamless sky before the plaster had a chance to dry. Much of the artwork was rendered not in paint but in wet coloured plaster. , according to the traditional fresco method. In the trade, these theatres were sometimes called "soft tops" since the illusion was of no ceiling - of being out of doors. Stencils on the proscenium arch are original, as are the wall lanterns.