This location is a perfect example of do not judge a book by it's cover! Located in downtown Hamilton Ont. The exterior of the theatre looks more like an old warehouse or factory that has been left to decay and is being used as a legal street art location.
Once you step inside, the beauty of what is decaying. Shines brightly! The theatre was built in stages between 1875 and 1924, and opened in 1924 with the name Tivoli Theatre. Vaudeville shows were the mainstay of the theatre until movies became more available. Despite becoming a movie theatre mainly, the décor was kept original. In 1995 it changed again, this time to live theatre shows.
In the early 2000's a portion of the building collapsed and engineers had to remove other sections of it. The theatre company who owned it, sold it to the city. Who later sold it to a development company. They announced a plan to build a 22 story building on the property and conserving what is left of the theatre as a community space. That plan was approved by the city in 2013, but here we are in 2024 and the theatre has been sitting and decaying this whole time. Zero work on the project has even been started! Leaving many to speculate that the development company is trying to "demolish the building by neglect". A tactic many development companies use when they purchase heritage or protected properties. They cannot legally demolish these types of buildings, so they just let them sit until they completely fall apart.
This is one that I hope that tactic is not being used on and it gets fully restored. But only time will tell!
