May 2025
The southern Ontario city of Toronto, has a long history with live music. Whether it’s a world-famous band, or a local bar band; whether the venue is a stadium or an intimate club setting, music fans will find a wide variety of musical choices and venue selections.
The Danforth Music Hall is a very popular theatre-style venue in the Riverdale area of east Toronto, an area also known as the centre of Toronto’s Greek community. Originally opened on 18 August 1919 as a movie theatre, named Allen’s Danforth Theatre, it became a live music venue in the late 1970s.
Promoted as “Canada’s First Super-Suburban Photoplay Palace,” the first film shown was Through the Wrong Door, a romantic comedy starring silent film star Madge Kennedy.
The theatre was operated by the Allen Theatre chain until 1923, when facing financial issues, sold the theatre to the Famous Players theatre chain, who ran it under their subsidiary, the B&F chain. Now known as the Century Theatre, it remained a first-run movie house until the late 1960s, when it became a Greek language cinema, known as the Titania Theatre, from 1970 to 1978.
The Danforth theatre then began showing second-run films, ultimately becoming one of Toronto’s repertory cinemas in 1998. Additionally, it also began its run as a live music venue around this time.
It also served as a popular location for filming movies and television shows, including Chicago, How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Monk, Bulletproof and Life with Judy Garland.
After the theatre closed in 2004, it looked like that was the end of the road for the venue. The building was already in need of repair by that time, but after sitting empty for over a year, some thought it was beyond repairing. New owners re-opened the theatre in 2006, renovating and restoring it, including the installation of a new sound system and new seating, but by August 2010, financial pressures forced the owners to close the theatre and put it up for sale.
Bought in 2011 by Impresario Inc., the newly-re-named Danforth Music Hall opened on 1 December 2011. Since then, the Danforth Music Hall has seen a wide range of performers on the stage, including Alison Moyet, Rhianna, Justin Bieber, Lorde, St. Vincent, Lights, Dave Chapelle and RuPaul’s Drag Race.
The Danforth Music Hall is also available as a rental facility for meetings, conferences and private concerts.
Architecture
The exterior of the Danforth Theatre contained both Palladian and Georgian Revival elements, including repeating low-relief classical ornamentation. The front façade still retains most of its original architectural features, including extensive Flemish bond and herringbone brickwork, opal glass windows and a marquee of chains. As well, a stylized “AT” symbol, representing the Allen Theatres chain, also remains on the façade.
The interior was done in the general architectural style of all Allen theatres, featuring muted and complementary colours, and restrained classical plaster detailing. This was in contrast to the heavy ornamentation that characterized many cinemas of the period.
Sources: Danforth Music Hall – Wikipedia, Discover Toronto’s Vibrant Music Scene, Concerts & Festivals.
