The Elgin Theatre was a historic movie theatre located at the corner of Lisgar and Elgin Street

Elgin Street (Ottawa)

Elgin Street is a street in the Golden Triangle of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Originally named Biddy's Lane, it was later named after Lord Elgin....

 in Ottawa

Ottawa

Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

. The 750 seat cinema opened in 1937, with the first film shown being Stand-In

Stand-In

Stand-In is a movie about Hollywood and the film industry starring Leslie Howard, Joan Blondell, and Humphrey Bogart. It was directed by Tay Garnett, produced by Walter Wanger, and released by United Artists.- Plot :...

. For several decades it was one of Ottawa's premier theatres, and in 1947 it was the location of the world premiere of Mary Pickford

Mary Pickford

Mary Pickford was a Canadian-born motion picture actress, co-founder of the film studio United Artists and one of the original 36 founders of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences...

's Sleep, My Love

Sleep, My Love

Sleep, My Love is a feature film directed by Douglas Sirk, and starring Claudette Colbert, Robert Cummings and Don Ameche.-Plot:Alison Courtland, a wealthy New Yorker, hasn't a clue how she ended up on a train bound for Boston...

.

Owner, Nat Taylor

Nat Taylor

Nathan A. Taylor was a Canadian inventor. As head of Twentieth Century Theatres, an Ontario branch of Famous Players Canadian Corporation, he built one of the world's first cineplex movie theatres in Ottawa, Ontario at the Elgin Theatre. The Elgin's second screen opened in December 1947 on a patch...

, of 20th Century Theatres, opened a second screen on an adjacent patch of land in December 1947 (the second such dual-screen in Canada, a few months after the Hollywood Theatre in Toronto). In 1957, Taylor became annoyed at having to replace films that were still making money with new releases. He thus put a different show in the "Little Elgin," so that two films could be shown at once. This was the first time a choice was offered at a North American cinema box office, and Taylor is credited as the inventor of the multiplex. Taylor would go on to build ever larger multiplexes, and eventually form the Cineplex Odeon Corporation.

The Elgin eventually became part of the Famous Players cinema chain. In 1994 the company announced that it would be closed. The building was in disrepair, and ironically small downtown theatres were of little use in the era of megaplexes that the Elgin had launched. Despite community efforts and a petition signed by 3,500 to get the company to reconsider, the cinema was shuttered in November 1994. The final film shown in Theatre 1 was Quiz Show

Quiz Show

Quiz Show is a 1994 American historical drama film produced and directed by Robert Redford. Adapted by Paul Attanasio from Richard Goodwin's memoir Remembering America, the film is based upon the Twenty One quiz show scandal of the 1950s...

. In Theatre 2 the final film Whale Music

Whale Music

Whale Music is a novel by Canadian writer Paul Quarrington. It was first published by Doubleday Canada in 1989.The novel's central character is Desmond Howl, a reclusive former rock star who has lived in virtual seclusion from the world since the death of his brother Danny in a car accident...

was shown. There was considerable debate about what to do with the building. The Great Canadian Theatre Company

Great Canadian Theatre Company

The Great Canadian Theatre Company, known for short as GCTC, is a professional theatre company based in Ottawa, Canada. It was established in 1975. The company specialises in the production of Canadian plays....

expressed a desire to move into the location, but Ottawa City Council did not support this idea. Eventually the theatre was redeveloped into a cluster of restaurants.