Pantages Theatre

Alexander Pantages, a West Coast theatrical promoter who worked the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898-1900, eventually settled in Seattle and established a chain of vaudeville playhouses. Vancouver’s Pantages Theatre was among the earliest outposts of his Seattle-based theatre chain. It is valued as the oldest surviving link of a chain of over 150 Pantages theatres that once extended across North America, and one of the oldest intact purpose-built vaudeville theatre interiors in Canada. Originally built in 1906 as a vaudeville house and movie theatre, Alexander Pantages sold it in 1917 to move to a larger venue in what was then a booming entertainment business. The Pantages Theatre subsequently became a burlesque hall, and operated over the years under many different names until it closed in 1994.

The rather plain red brick facade of the timber-framed theatre structure is significant in that it followed the trend of early theatres, where the office-like exterior hid a highly-ornate interior. Although designed primarily by Edward Evans Blackmore (1878-1929), Alexander Pantages himself is credited with considerable input into the theatre’s plans.

Bomb damage during the depression, the consequence of a 1933 labour dispute, and subsequent minor renovations, have significantly altered what was once a large front foyer of white enameled brick surmounted by an ornate plaster ceiling. Otherwise, the structure and facade of the theatre remain largely intact. The unique interior, specifically the auditorium, has been left essentially unchanged. Constructed in an era when theatre design was undergoing a transformation, the Pantages Theatre exhibits a much simpler decoration scheme than later theatres. The original plaster decoration featuring classical, baroque and Moorish details (and Alexander Pantages own initials), stage area, dressing rooms, orchestra room, catwalks and fly equipment are all still in place.