The Empress Theatre was not part of any of the tours during the 10th World Congress on Art Deco in Montreal in May 2009 but it was mentioned during Dane Lanken's presentation on
Montreal Movie Palaces.
Despite the rain I was glad I was able to make my own way out to see it.
The Empress was designed by Montreal architect Alcide Chaussé with decoration by Emmanuel Briffa. It opened in 1927.
Briffa has created a facade made up of Egyptian motifs, reliefs and hierglyphics.
Coming just 5 years after
Howard Carter discovered the unplundered tomb of Tutankhamun Briffa has included a Pharoah's mask in the style of Tutankhamun although the feet appear to belong to the Sphinx rather than a Pharoah's mask. Above that is a winged sun disk, a common Egyptian symbol appropriated by many architects and designers of the period.
A common scene from Egyptian tombs is the Pharoah being blessed by a Goddess. Briffa has included this on the facade of the Empress as well although I wouldn't vouch for the authencity if the hierglyphics. Too many cartouches for my liking.
The Egyption decoration is continued at street level with doorways placed in Egyptian settings. The sun disk is placed directly above the entrance which is flanked by columns topped with stylised palm fronds. I like the Art Deco touch of the 'rule of three' stepped elements in the corner of the doorway decorated with hierglyphics.
The Empress was locked up when I visited and I couldn't see any of the interior which was gutted by a fire in 1992. I doubt there is much left to see.
The
Empress Cultural Centre Inc are a charitable not-for-profit who are working to revitialise the old theatre as a multifunctional performing arts centre. I wish them luck and all the success in the world.
You can check out a music video for a song written by Scott MacLeod.
ReplyDeleteThe song describes the theatre's history and many uses until it burnt down in 1992. It was shot inside the building in the fall of 2010.
http://www.bisfilms.com/blog/?p=846
The song was written for a short documentary film that will be out in the spring.
Thanks Emmanuel. Great to see the history of the theatre illustrated in Scott's song and I hope it all goes well for the release of the documentary. It was nice to see inside the Empres but not nice to see what bad shape it is in. Maybe the Empress will rise again? I hope so.
ReplyDeletePlease come back and post details of where we can see the documentary, especially those of us who are not in Canada, like me down here in Oz.