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Winnipeg – Metropolitan Theatre

281-285 Donald Street, Winnipeg, MB
Winnipeg’s Metropolitan Theatre surrounded by buildings. A sign on the front reads “THE MET” and “281 Donald.”
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The second storey of Winnipeg’s Metropolitan Theatre with buildings beside and behind it.
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The windows on the second storey of Winnipeg’s Metropolitan Theatre. A sign on the facade reads “THE MET.”
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Facade of the Metropolitan Theatre with a sign that says "The Met"
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Date Built: 1919

Styles:
Classical Revival
characteristics:
Relief Symmetrical / Symmetry Box-like massing Round arch Brick Flat roof Cornice Pilaster

Media Gallery (7 items)

Moving pictures were still relatively new in 1900, when Barney Allen and his sons Jules and Jay opened the first Allen Movie Theatre in Toronto. It became a Canadian chain of theatres.

Movies quickly were a popular form of entertainment, soon challenging entertainment mainstays like the vaudeville revue. Built in 1919, Winnipeg would have Canada’s 46th Allen Theatre.

On The Map
281-285 Donald Street, Winnipeg, MB
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The “movie palace” was neo-classical and opulent, with seating for 2,000 and an orchestra pit for 15 to 17 musicians. Ornamental plaster decorates the walls and ceiling, with a grand chandelier suspended over the audience. Two carbon arc projectors showed the latest in movie entertainment. Outside, a large electric sign adorned the simple façade. French windows on the second floor look out over the canopy above the sidewalk.

Electricity was critical – and the Allen’s drew power from both Manitoba Hydro and Winnipeg Hydro, ensuring that a power outage would not impact the show.

In 1923, the theatre was purchased by Famous Player Canadian Corporation and renamed the Metropolitan. By 1987, as a result of multiplex theaters, the Met was forced to close. Threatened with demolition, the Friends of the Met fought to protect the building until it was purchased by CanadInns and converted into an entertainment centre in 2012.