ByTowne Cinema
Encyclopedia
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
movie theatre located in Ottawa
Ottawa
Ottawa is the capital of Canada, the second largest city in the Province of Ontario, and the fourth largest city in the country. The city is located on the south bank of the Ottawa River in the eastern portion of Southern Ontario...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. Opened in 1947, the cinema is one of Ottawa's oldest movie theatres and the city's main venue for independent
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
and foreign films. The 670 seat cinema is located on Rideau Street
Rideau Street
Rideau Street is a major street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada and one of Ottawa's oldest and most famous streets running from Wellington Street in the west to Montreal Road in the east where it connects to the Vanier district...
at Nelson, several blocks east of the Rideau Centre
Rideau Centre
Rideau Centre is a three-level shopping centre on Rideau Street in Downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It borders on Rideau Street , the Rideau Canal, the Mackenzie King Bridge, and Nicholas Street....
.
History
The one screen cinema was built by Hyman Berlin and opened on February 10, 1947 as the Nelson Cinema. The theatre had air conditioning, with a seating capacitySeating capacity
Seating capacity refers to the number of people who can be seated in a specific space, both in terms of the physical space available, and in terms of limitations set by law. Seating capacity can be used in the description of anything ranging from an automobile that seats two to a stadium that seats...
of 980, including an upper loge area. Admission was 25 cents, 35 cents for the upper loge. Soon after it was leased to the Famous Players chain of cinemas and for decades was one of the city's leading cinemas. The theatre was renovated in the 1960s, reducing seating to 790, and adding 70 mm projection facilities.
In 1988 Famous Players closed the cinema when the chain moved to multiplexes. The Berlin family sold the cinema to the operators of the independent Towne Cinema on Beechwood Avenue, in the New Edinburgh district of Ottawa. The Towne cinema subsequently closed and was renovated into retail space. The Nelson was renamed the ByTowne, in honour of Ottawa's original name Bytown
Bytown
Bytown is the former name of Ottawa, Canada's capital city. It was founded on on September 26, 1826, incorporated as a town on January 1, 1850, and superseded by the incorporation of the City of Ottawa on January 1, 1855. The founding was marked by a sod turning, and a letter from Governor General...
, and became the venue for alternative films and repertory
Repertory
Repertory or rep, also called stock in the United States, is a term used in Western theatre and opera.A repertory theatre can be a theatre in which a resident company presents works from a specified repertoire, usually in alternation or rotation...
.
The cinema was renovated again in 2000, salvaging relatively new seats from the recently closed Capitol Square multiplex of downtown Ottawa. This reduced the seating again, to 670.