Outremont Theatre

The Outremont Theatre is a large, Art-Deco-style movie theatre located at the corner of Bernard and Champagneur avenues in Outremont, an early-20th-century suburban community on Montréal's west island. The theatre is situated among residential buildings, in a mixed residential and commercial neighbourhood. The formal designation consists of the theatre building on its footprint at the time of designation.
HERITAGE VALUE
The Outremont Theatre was designated a national historic site in 1993 because of its national historic and architectural significance. With its early Art Deco exterior and its rich interior combining both atmospheric and Art Deco elements, it is a very fine example of a deluxe cinema in Canada dating from the late 1920s.
Designed by local architect René Charbonneau for Confederation Amusements, Outremont Theatre is typical of the many deluxe cinemas erected in new suburban neighbourhoods across Canada during the 1920s. Deluxe cinemas were mid-size movie theatres designed to hold between 1000 and 2000 patrons. Purpose-built for cinematographic use, they were intended to be attractive and comfortable, reflecting the fact that by the late 1920s the cinema had become mainstream entertainment. Fireproofing measures at Outremont reflect a heightened concern for the safety of patrons after a deadly 1927 cinema fire in Montreal.

Outremont Theatre was one of the first expressions of the Art Deco style in cinema architecture in Canada. It is typical of the early manifestations of the style in its use of traditional classical forms, presented in a stylized fashion. The exterior composition, in which two distinct volumes differentiated by materials, colour and proportions correspond to the principal functions of the building, reflects the advent of the modern architectural aesthetic. The use of Art Deco motifs continues throughout the building's interior.
The interior décor of the auditorium is an extravagant example of the Art Deco style presented in combination with the atmospheric style of cinema design. A short-lived phenomenon popular during the late 1920s, the atmospheric style recreated exotic, pastoral scenes on the walls and ceilings of cinema auditoriums. The Outremont auditorium combines the stylized motifs of Art Deco with pastoral scenes painted on the upper walls, and a luminous coffered ceiling intended to reproduce the atmospheric quality of a sunny day.
Outremont Theatre's elaborate, dream-like interior décor, typical of 1920s cinema design, was created by Emmanuel Briffa. Briffa was a well-known theatre artist who lived in Outremont and was responsible for the interior decoration of more than 60 cinemas across Canada.

Photo Credit: http://www.theatreoutremont.ca/en/box-office/buy-tickets/

Text Credit: http://historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=7469