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In The Beginning

In 1929, Famous Players closed the doors of the Royal Theatre (formerly the Grand Opera House) in Port Hope. It was the beginning of the Depression and manager Stuart Smart found himself without a job.

Stuart proceeded to haunt the head office in Toronto, "so much so they were afraid he might become a permanent fixture", according to Harry Sedgwick of Famous Players. To avoid that, they agreed to design and build a new movie house. It was to be the first theatre built in the country specifically for the advent of talking pictures!

With the cooperation of property-owner Charles W. Stevenson, "an ardent patron of the movies", Smart arranged to purchase the fish shop (formerly the Bell Telephone Office) on Queen Street for the sum of $10,000. The site was ideal since the livery at the rear of the Stevenson Block could accommodate the large auditorium required for movies. Shop owners received a life-time pass to the theatre in exchange for signing over the land rights!

The theatre was designed (and construction supervised) by architect Murray Brown, former President of the Ontario Association of Architects, who had previously designed the elaborate Capitol Theatre in Halifax for Famous Players, as well as the beautiful Spanish-styled Capitiol in Saskatoon. That theatre was notable for the elaborate draw-bridge in the lobby and the baronial splendour of its auditorium.

The plans for Port Hope’s Capitol Theatre were approved in January, tenders were let and construction began on February 17, 1930. Construction was carried out by a local firm - Thomas Garnet and Sons - who had previously built Batterwood, an addition to the General Hospital on Ward Street, the Guide Building, as well as many other local landmarks. The Capitol Theatre was the first in town to use steel girders in its construction, and the building was built at a cost of $80,000.