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Cash in place for Burt revamp

102-year-old theatre's original facade to be restored

By: Bartley Kives

18/07/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 6

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Improvements to the Burton Cummings Theatre should cost a total of $3 million. (MIKE.APORIUS@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

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‘We’ll be able to get the building to look a lot like the way it looked in 1907, with a new marquee and canopy' -- Jack Harper, chairman of the venue’s board (MIKE.APORIUS@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

WINNIPEG — The boxy exterior of the Burton Cummings Theatre will be peeled away to reveal its original facade, after the 102-year-old venue received seed money to complete its heritage restoration, install new washrooms and build an elevator to its upper floors.

Parks Canada has agreed to give the national historic site up to $425,000 to return the building's exterior to its original grandeur over the next two years, completing a heritage project that began with an interior restoration in 1992, said Jack Harper, chairman of the non-profit venue's board.

The Winnipeg Foundation has followed suit with up to $500,000 that will be used to build new washrooms and an elevator, and improve the lobby in the 1,640-seat theatre.

Both grants will require the Burt to raise matching funds as part of a fundraising campaign that will be launched before the end of summer. The entire project will cost a total of about $3 million, Harper estimated.

The city and provincial governments will be asked to contribute to the plan, which replaces a previous, more ambitious expansion proposal that wound up being too rich for the theatre.

"There wasn't a lot of support for something new, like a $10-million or $15-million addition to the building," Harper said Friday in an interview from B.C.

Instead, the theatre's original facade will be uncovered and restored, along with the entrance to the building. "We'll be able to get the building to look a lot like the way it looked in 1907, with a new marquee and canopy," Harper said.

Work could begin this fall, as the theatre has $100,000 in previously raised money in the bank to leverage $200,000 from Parks Canada and the Winnipeg Foundation.

The Parks Canada money will flow from a fund dedicated to national historic sites. The Winnipeg Foundation cash is intended to improve the customer experience at the venue, where the washrooms are a source of complaints.

More people would pay to see concerts in the theatre if it had better facilities, said foundation CEO Rick Frost, who has stipulated some of his organization's funds be used to build better biffies.

Both grants would not have been possible if the Burton Cummings Theatre had not eliminated its debt, Harper said. The theatre got rid of its red ink in 2007, when the venue's remaining creditors walked away from the mortgage in exchange for a triangle-shaped surface lot next to the theatre and a $220,000 city debt-retirement grant.

Since then, the theatre has remained in the black by renting itself out to touring productions and taking all the profits from concession sales. It only takes about 30 productions a year to break even, Harper said

The venue was originally considered one of the most ornate theatres in the West when it opened in 1907. During its first two decades, it hosted performances or appearances by the likes of Charlie Chaplin, the Marx Brothers and Winston Churchill, as well as a famous suffrage debate between Nellie McClung and Premier Rodman Roblin.

The theatre fell on hard times in 1933, when the city seized it in a tax sale, but it was revived in 1945 as the Odeon Theatre, which showed movies until 1990.

In 1991, the Walker Theatre Performing Arts Group -- a non-profit organization led by future Winnipeg mayor Sam Katz -- purchased the building for $700,000 and turned it back into a live performance venue.

The venue adopted the Burton Cummings name in 2002 at the launch of its debt-reduction campaign. Since then, two fundraising concerts featuring the theatre's namesake have raised a total of $120,000.

The former Guess Who frontman may play a third fundraiser this fall or winter, Harper said.

bartley.kives@freepress.mb.ca

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 18, 2009 B1

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6 Comments

Posted by:

July 18, 2009 at 9:03 PM

Excellent idea. Let's restore it before Katz, Sheegl and their cronies tear it down.

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Posted by: Nelson

July 18, 2009 at 11:51 AM

Install New washrooms, restore the old ones that were there before the place was butchered. As a kid I remember the great gentlemens room with its leather chairs and great fire place that was gracious living.

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Posted by: Dorothy Zbornax

July 18, 2009 at 11:09 AM

I am sure others, as myself will be thrilled to see the original facade unvelied and all those layers of paint removed.
new hotel is neede downtonw if there is room for it.

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Posted by: J Galt

July 18, 2009 at 10:30 AM

Nice building and all but, but music sounds terrible in it if you're not in the middle of the floor area.

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Posted by:

July 18, 2009 at 10:07 AM

Great idea, and it will only add to our historic look downtown.

I, as well as other Winnipeggers, do appreciative what Burton Cummings has down for this building,but could we revert the name of this building back to it's original name now? If we are going to be really historic, let's go the whole way, and not half a**. Mr. Cummings has indeed played a major part in restoring this building, but if he really wants to help, he would ask that his name be removed, and a bronze plaque or bust be put in the lobby showing our gratitude towards him.

This building has more significance historically, knowing that such individuals such as Chaplin, McClung, and Churchill stood on it's stage, and that should be promoted fully.

Could the committee consider having this building open to the general public during some portions of the summer so that tourist could take a look at our past. Any proceeds raised could go towards this restoration process now and in the future, as older buildings will continually need repairs.

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Posted by: Ray C

July 18, 2009 at 8:45 AM

That would be so great to see that happen. The interior looks like its falling apart. If there was a tall hotel with a fancy hotel built on the parking right beside it (north-south) it would sure generate some revenue