Eglinton Theatre National Historic Site of Canada

Key elements contributing to the heritage value of this site include:

— its location on Eglinton Avenue West in Toronto;

— its setting, in the 1920s suburb of Forest Hill;

— its irregular massing, with an integrated sign tower;

— its highly developed Art Deco style, demonstrating the three main phases of the movement – zigzag, streamlined and classical – in its exterior and interior detailing and decoration;

— the capacity of the original lighting fixtures on the exterior and interior to achieve architectural effects designed to reinforce other forms of ornamentation;

— its entrance façade, an assemblage of contrasting volumes, textures and materials;

— the arrangement of the entrance with shop fronts on either side of a box office surmounted by a sign tower, semi-circular marquee and box office;

— the profile and detailing of the sign tower, including its Art Deco form; concealed neon lighting, and three-stage pylon topped with a flashing neon ball crowning the sign tower;

— its construction using new architectural materials, including Catalin, Vitrolite, stainless steel, and Flexwood, used in the construction of signs, exterior facings, lighting fixtures and interior trim and fixtures;

— the simple, bold, Art Deco forms of the interior auditorium creating its Art Deco styling; including, the use of coloured neon and indirect incandescent lighting, a central, dropped ceiling panel, stepped up along its length to create a zigzag effect and curved at one end, the continuation of the centre ceiling banding down the walls to the proscenium arch, the rounded sidewalls, emphasized by a pleated frieze stepped at the sides, the zigzag patterned dado and pilaster-like divisions capped with red lights with pleated shades;

— interior detailing in Art Deco styles of the lobby, former waiting room, former foyer and former lounge;

— an etched and painted glass mural by artist John Clymer, depicting the three muses;

— the female nude statuary in the auditorium, representative of stylized Art Deco classicism.