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Maintaining a national treasure

Dismantling select terra cotta pieces in the façade of Toronto’s Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre that are deteriorated and require replacement.

Photo: Dismantling select terra cotta pieces in the façade of Toronto’s Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre that are deteriorated and require replacement.

Photo: Parks Canada, through the Cost-Sharing Program, is proud to support the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres National Historic Site of Canada.

By

Romas Bubelis

Buildings and architecture

Published Date: May 06, 2010

Toronto’s Elgin and Winter Garden Theatre Centre is an inward-looking building of interior architecture. The exterior, by contrast, appears massive but plain.

The singular exception is the façade of the elongated Thomas Lamb Lobby, reaching out from mid-block to give the two stacked theatres a presence on Yonge Street. This two-storey façade, with its overhanging marquee and sign, hints to passers-by of the theatrical splendor waiting inside. With the support of funding from Parks Canada’s National Historic Sites Cost-Sharing Program (matched by the Government of Ontario), the Trust has commenced a project to give this face a much-needed lift.

Over the summer of 2009, work focused on conserving the entrance level, with refinishing of the bank of stained wood doors, the re-polishing of brass fittings and the cleaning of stained glass. That work, along with a general refurbishing of the marquee, is now complete. Attention is now focused on the more complex conditions of the second floor terra cotta façade. This level features three arched tripartite windows set amid classical ornamentation executed in architectural terra cotta dating from the original 1913 construction.

Terra cotta is a hollow, fired-clay material, often glazed, produced as a decorative and weathering facing material that is then attached to the structure with steel anchors. The process of modelling terra cotta pieces is as complex as the techniques used in its conservation. Although very popular at the turn of the 19th century, its manufacture is now limited.

Replacement pieces are being manufactured for the Elgin façade project using traditional methods. These will be inserted in the summer of 2010 and followed by restoration of the windows and conservation and cleaning of the remaining original terra cotta. Once restored, the Yonge Street façade will again reflect, with a certain panache, the spirit of the Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres.

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