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Old ballroom to come out swinging again
Palais Royale undergoing massive renovation
Andrew Lupton
National Post
Monday, June 26, 2006
When the Rolling Stones wanted a small, out-of-the-way Toronto venue to stage a secret warm-up gig in 2002, they picked the Palais Royale.
When Canadian band Sloan went to record their two-disc live CD, the venerable West-end venue served as their stage for four consecutive nights.
In its 80-odd year history on the lakeshore, acts as varied as arty Icelanders Sigur Ros and English folkie Badly Drawn Boy have played the Palais, often choosing the intimate room, with its capacity of about 1,000, to the city's more centrally located, modern venues.
And now the former ballroom is quietly undergoing an extensive renovation unnoticed by the thousands of motorists who buzz buy on the adjacent Lake Shore Boulevard and Gardiner Expressway. Its operators describe the renovation as a rebirth that will secure Palais Royale's future as a Toronto venue for concerts and other events.
"We want to restore the Palais Royale to its original grandeur as one of the city's premiere event theatres," said Mary Lou Borg who, with her husband, Joseph, form one part of a group of partners who last year were issued a 20-year lease to operate the city-owned Palais.
Ms. Borg said "original grandeur" because the past few decades have not been kind to the theatre that began as a boat-building factory in the 1920s and evolved into one of North America's most renowned dancehalls by the 1930s.
In its heyday, decades before it was sealed off from the city by two roadways, Palais Royale was a key component of Sunnyside, the city's summer playground.
The big-band era saw Duke Ellington and Count Basie play there.
Much of the venue's popularity then, and now, stems from its art deco-inspired design features, which a city report identifies as having unique heritage value. These include the building's hipped roof entry pavilion and flanking symmetrical wings, wooden dance floor and massive stone fireplace.
On the building's south side, grand doors open to a large, sweeping deck that hugs the lakeshore. During concerts in the sweltering summer months, visitors can walk out to the deck and catch the breeze off the lake while staying within earshot of the stage. It's a concert experience different than any other music venue in the city.
After the big-band era waned, renovations in the 1940s, '50s and '60s obscured much of the building's heritage features.
Lease-holders during those years put little thought and less money into the building's upkeep.
These days Palais Royale is easy to miss. Wedged between the two roadways and the lake roughly due south of the intersection of Queen Street West and Roncesvalles, Palais is adjacent to the Boulevard Club and part of the walkway that stretches along the lakeshore.
Over the past decade, bands have staged memorable shows at the Palais but the bookings have been infrequent at best.
Last year, the city issued its new operating lease with the stipulation that the building be brought up to code by the new operators with a complete restoration that retains its historical features.
The work began in the fall and includes a complete gutting of the interior.
The frontages on all sides will be restored in keeping with the original design, while bathrooms, plumbing and electrical will all be brought up to code.
"The main components of the room will not change," said Ms. Borg, who would not put a dollar figure on the renovation costs but confirmed they will exceed $1-million. "People who come in after the renovations are done will still recognize it as the Palais Royale."
Ms. Borg said she and her partners have yet to develop a detailed outline of the type of programming that will happen at Palais Royale.
She said music concerts will be a big part of the bookings, and the addition of new kitchen facilities will allow for weddings and other events.
Music promoter Amy Hersenhoren, who operates RMS Concerts, has overseen a handful of bookings at the Palais. In 2004, she promoted a concert by Montreal band Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Ms. Hersenhoren said the Palais suits a certain type of music act: arty bands uninterested in playing more mainstream venues but popular enough to draw 1,000 people out of the downtown and down to the lakeshore.
"It's such a unique space, you have to have unique acts there," she said.
Parkdale/High Park city councilor Sylvia Watson sees the Palais Royale renovation as part of a larger project to better integrate neighbourhoods, and Parkdale in particular, with the lake.
"It's a beautiful setting," Ms. Watson told the Post.
"The unfortunate truth is that those corridors [the highways and rail lines] have cut off our community from the lake. This is one of the last stretches of the waterfront that hasn't been built upon and covered up with condos."
Old ballroom to come out swinging again
Palais Royale undergoing massive renovation
Andrew Lupton
National Post
Monday, June 26, 2006
When the Rolling Stones wanted a small, out-of-the-way Toronto venue to stage a secret warm-up gig in 2002, they picked the Palais Royale.
When Canadian band Sloan went to record their two-disc live CD, the venerable West-end venue served as their stage for four consecutive nights.
In its 80-odd year history on the lakeshore, acts as varied as arty Icelanders Sigur Ros and English folkie Badly Drawn Boy have played the Palais, often choosing the intimate room, with its capacity of about 1,000, to the city's more centrally located, modern venues.
And now the former ballroom is quietly undergoing an extensive renovation unnoticed by the thousands of motorists who buzz buy on the adjacent Lake Shore Boulevard and Gardiner Expressway. Its operators describe the renovation as a rebirth that will secure Palais Royale's future as a Toronto venue for concerts and other events.
"We want to restore the Palais Royale to its original grandeur as one of the city's premiere event theatres," said Mary Lou Borg who, with her husband, Joseph, form one part of a group of partners who last year were issued a 20-year lease to operate the city-owned Palais.
Ms. Borg said "original grandeur" because the past few decades have not been kind to the theatre that began as a boat-building factory in the 1920s and evolved into one of North America's most renowned dancehalls by the 1930s.
In its heyday, decades before it was sealed off from the city by two roadways, Palais Royale was a key component of Sunnyside, the city's summer playground.
The big-band era saw Duke Ellington and Count Basie play there.
Much of the venue's popularity then, and now, stems from its art deco-inspired design features, which a city report identifies as having unique heritage value. These include the building's hipped roof entry pavilion and flanking symmetrical wings, wooden dance floor and massive stone fireplace.
On the building's south side, grand doors open to a large, sweeping deck that hugs the lakeshore. During concerts in the sweltering summer months, visitors can walk out to the deck and catch the breeze off the lake while staying within earshot of the stage. It's a concert experience different than any other music venue in the city.
After the big-band era waned, renovations in the 1940s, '50s and '60s obscured much of the building's heritage features.
Lease-holders during those years put little thought and less money into the building's upkeep.
These days Palais Royale is easy to miss. Wedged between the two roadways and the lake roughly due south of the intersection of Queen Street West and Roncesvalles, Palais is adjacent to the Boulevard Club and part of the walkway that stretches along the lakeshore.
Over the past decade, bands have staged memorable shows at the Palais but the bookings have been infrequent at best.
Last year, the city issued its new operating lease with the stipulation that the building be brought up to code by the new operators with a complete restoration that retains its historical features.
The work began in the fall and includes a complete gutting of the interior.
The frontages on all sides will be restored in keeping with the original design, while bathrooms, plumbing and electrical will all be brought up to code.
"The main components of the room will not change," said Ms. Borg, who would not put a dollar figure on the renovation costs but confirmed they will exceed $1-million. "People who come in after the renovations are done will still recognize it as the Palais Royale."
Ms. Borg said she and her partners have yet to develop a detailed outline of the type of programming that will happen at Palais Royale.
She said music concerts will be a big part of the bookings, and the addition of new kitchen facilities will allow for weddings and other events.
Music promoter Amy Hersenhoren, who operates RMS Concerts, has overseen a handful of bookings at the Palais. In 2004, she promoted a concert by Montreal band Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Ms. Hersenhoren said the Palais suits a certain type of music act: arty bands uninterested in playing more mainstream venues but popular enough to draw 1,000 people out of the downtown and down to the lakeshore.
"It's such a unique space, you have to have unique acts there," she said.
Parkdale/High Park city councilor Sylvia Watson sees the Palais Royale renovation as part of a larger project to better integrate neighbourhoods, and Parkdale in particular, with the lake.
"It's a beautiful setting," Ms. Watson told the Post.
"The unfortunate truth is that those corridors [the highways and rail lines] have cut off our community from the lake. This is one of the last stretches of the waterfront that hasn't been built upon and covered up with condos."