Lobby demolition first step to restoring Tivoli theatre
http://www.thespec.com/news-story/69...ivoli-theatre/
What remains of the historic Tivoli theatre lobby is to be demolished to make way for a new one leading to a restored auditorium — and more dramatically — for an attached 22-storey condo tower on the site.
Diamante Investments' condo proposal was approved by city council last year, and although towering over the other James Street North buildings near it, the building's height is the only way to generate enough money to make it feasible to restore the Tivoli, Diamante has said.
The demolition of what remains of the lobby — the majority of which crumbled in a 2004 collapse — is the subject of an application before the city's heritage committee on Thursday.
The building "was first constructed as a carriage factory in 1875, but by 1908 was established as the first in a sequence of theatres," according to a report to the committee. The last theatre was enlarged to include a large auditorium in 1924 and renamed the Tivoli.
The Tivoli became "a prominent vaudeville and motion picture venue and was noted for being the first cinema in Hamilton to present movies with soundtracks."
The city is holding the developer to an agreement to salvage "details of any remaining heritage attributes" of the lobby, including the coffered ceilings, two small decorative wall niches and four small plaster wall medallions of composers, before a demolition permit is issued.
Christina Kearney, a designer with McCallum Sather architects, says: "They are being salvaged so they can be thoughtfully reincorporated (into the new building) or preserved for future use. Or, they may just become art pieces, but they are not going to a landfill."
Kearney said the remaining lobby has to be demolished to make way for a new one with public access from James Street. Plans also call for new washrooms, ticket kiosks, a café and restaurant, all costing somewhere between $3 and $4 million.
Jason Farr, city councillor for the area, remembers lining up at the Tivoli as a youngster to see "Star Wars" for the first time and has heard others in the past reminisce about the vaudeville shows.
The demolition of the rest of the lobby is "one hundred per cent in keeping with what we contemplated and deliberated and approved in March 2015," he said Friday.
What was left of the lobby was always going to come down, he says. "This (committee approval) gives them the go-ahead … dotting the Is and crossing the Ts of an already approved plan."
Farr considers the 22-storey condo building an ancillary to the 300-seat theatre restoration.
"The condo gives them the finances to do the restoration."
The controversial height, however, has led to the formation of a "tall building study" to be presented by staff in 2017, he adds.
"We dealt with this (building) as a one-off and as a project that saves the theatre, which has been on a lot of hearts and minds … Many wanted to see the theatre saved and restored.
"I'm very pleased the general public will have a wonderfully renewed theatre (medium-sized) space …"
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