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ARTH3810 2019F Class Projects (Publication) Main Menu The Tent Room at Rideau Hall Kyle Kreutner, Page 1 of 6 The Webley Shacks: Unconventional Furniture Use in the Context of Ceaseless Surveillance Jose Bawagan Imperial Theater By Munawar Mobin Keagan F - CSTM Sound History Introduction An Investigation of Hospital Interiors Effect on Patients 144 Loretta Avenue North, Aidan MacNaull Aidan MacNaull 144 Loretta Avenue North West Block - Canada's New House of Commons by Devon Rudyk Rideau Street Chapel: The Effects of Relocation on the Experience of an Interior by Ty Follis The Church of St. Andrew's Ottawa David Bastien-Allard Making the Past Present: Union Station Restoration – A Political Facelift? by Vivian Astroff Delegation of the Ismali Imamat The National Arts Centre: Reflecting on its Past and Present Saint Paul University - A Shift in Values Reem Siage Film in Ottawa: The Mayfair theatre by Giovanna Maria Sang CGM -An Investigation of Hospital Interiors Effect on Patients The Chateau Laurier By Jessica El-Ghazal Reusable Space: The Senate of Canada Building by Syenne Holder National Gallery of Canada - Seeing the Colonnade Through a Semiological Lens by Ricky Tong Ricky THE OTTAWA STATION Ehidiamen Iyamabo, HomePage

The Mayfair Theatre

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The Mayfair Theatre, located on 1074 Bank Street, is an atmospheric Spanish Colonial Revival Style theatre. It is one of two atmospheric cinemas built in Ottawa, dating back to 1932. The Avalon Theatre, now the Glebe Theatre, was the other atmospheric theatre in Ottawa which closed down in 1956 (Keyes, "The Avalon Theatre"). The exterior of the Mayfair Theatre features a relatively blank three-story brick façade with a free-standing gable at the very top. The minimally decorated exterior gives very little away as to what the interior looks like which adds to the mysteriousness of the structure. The restricted exterior of the theatre makes it easier for it to blend in with the surrounding buildings. In contrast, the interior is well decorated, evoking the Spanish Colonial Revival Style that is popularly associated with Hollywood and theatres in California. With the false upper balconies and the seating below, the theatre almost appears to be open-air rather than being an enclosed space (see Figure 1). These balconies give the theatre a lighter, freeing feeling that advances the positive experience of the cinema-goers (Al-Asad, “The Mayfair Theatre” 2017).

The open-air concept of the theatre is heightened by the reduction of seating. It used to house 620 seats before being reduced to about 500 seats during an upgrading project for the theatre in the 1980s. This reduction in seating might have contributed to a certain connection with the cinema-goers of Ottawa, highlighting an intimacy between the space and users. Aside from this upgrading project, the Mayfair Theatre has kept its Spanish Colonial Revival style characteristics for over seventy-six years and features indie and independent films that many cinema-goers appeal to. In 2008, it was announced that the theatre was going to be closing, probably due to financial or legal situations, but it was saved under the Ottawa Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee (LACAC) who deemed the theatre as cultural heritage value (Al-Asad, “The Mayfair Theatre” 2017). For more information visit Old Ottawa South website.

According to the architect John Eberson, he wanted to take cinema-goers to a new world rich in imagination. A magical world that existed in a different time and setting. The main idea of this chapter is to analyze how the cinema-goer experiences the space, noting an emphasis on nostalgia and intimacy between the space and the user by looking at specific architectural features that evoke these feelings. It will also look at the theatre in its function to entertain, highlighting the value of leisure, and finally, view it in its modern context by analyzing cinema-goers of today and briefly touch upon why it stands firm to its modern theatre counterparts.

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Mayfair Theatre Interior