Orpheum Theatre
Restored 1927 vaudeville palace on Granville Street, home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.
The Orpheum opened in November 1927 as the Vancouver house of the Orpheum vaudeville circuit and was for a time the largest theatre in Canada, seating close to 2,800. Vaudeville gave way to cinema, and by the early 1970s the owners proposed subdividing the auditorium into a multiplex. A public campaign led the City of Vancouver to buy the building in 1974; it was refurbished and reopened in 1977 as a concert hall, and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1979.
B. Marcus Priteca, the Seattle-based architect responsible for many Orpheum circuit houses, designed the interior in a Spanish Renaissance manner, with a shallow dome, gilded plasterwork, sweeping staircases and a large chandelier. Decorative painting was carried out by Anthony Heinsbergen, and the ceiling mural above the auditorium was added during the 1977 restoration. The hall is the principal home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra and also hosts the Vancouver Bach Choir, the Vancouver Chamber Choir, touring artists and film-with-orchestra presentations.
Highlights
- Spanish Renaissance auditorium by B. Marcus Priteca
- Domed ceiling mural and large crystal chandelier
- Wurlitzer theatre organ installed for the 1927 opening
- Principal concert home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra
