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Paradise Theatre on Bloor is Returning to its Art Deco Roots

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Paradise Theatre in Toronto’s Bloorcourt neighbourhood has been synonymous with cinema (and, ahem, 80s pornography), since Benjamin Brown, one of the city’s earliest practicing Jewish architects, designed it in 1937. Shuttered in 2006, ERA Architects and Solid Design Creative are now restoring the heritage Art Deco building to rival stay-at-home Netflix binges.

Paradise Theatre Toronto Solid Design ERA Architects Designlines

Try to resist the vintage-inspired marquee over the new bar, or in-seat dining for the balcony section. Opening in 2019, Paradise will continue to screen films, and will also host live performances. Check their website for updates.

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Originally published in The Reno Issue 2018 as “Urban Update.” 

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And a win for children in the war against fun

To write about urbanism in Toronto is to live in a constant state of disappointment. It’s not that good things never happen here. It’s just that, too often, our big-ticket urban projects fail to live up to the hype. We get promised a radical new addition to the public realm—a bold initiative to reimagine civic life—and we end up with a condo complex or an outdoor mall. A starchitect gets hired to re-design our most storied museum, and he makes such a hash of things that, fifteen years later, we find ourselves paying to undo his work.

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