The formerly peripatetic Theatre Centre is getting a permanent home in an
Edwardian library on Queen Street West at Lisgar.
Designed by city architect Robert McCallum in 1909 and funded by Andrew Carnegie, the two-storey brick building's getting a $6.2-million renovation beginning this week that will include a 200-seat performance space, a rehearsal hall and a café, which, in artistic director
Franco Boni's opinion, is the most important part.
"The whole idea is that there needs to be a space open to the public," Boni says. "That glass cube at the back, the café, is the most expensive, but I also think it's the most important. Artists will make work, create work and produce work in lots of different kinds of spaces, but the one thing that is so important for a performance space is that we need to create these kinds of meeting places, a third space. We need to be building these spaces and integrating these spaces into our theatres. We can't just be open at seven at night for a show and then cart the audience out. We have to be open all day."
The old building, which has been used as a public health facility in the years since the library closed in 1964, is about 10,000 square feet. After the renovation, which should be finished by next fall, it will be between 13,000 and 14,000 square feet, with the extra space coming mostly from extensions above and to the rear.
The architect is Philip Goldsmith of
GBCA, the man behind the Summerhill LCBO.
Writer: Bert Archer
Source: Franco Boni
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