Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres

The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres are a pair of stacked theatres in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Winter Garden Theatre sits six storeys above the Elgin. They are the last surviving Edwardian stacked theatres in the world.

Don't miss

• The Winter Garden's atmospheric ceiling painted as a country garden under the stars, with tree trunk columns and lantern lights.
• The world's largest surviving collection of vaudeville flats and scenery, left inside the Winter Garden when it closed in 1928.
• The gold-and-marble, domed interior of the lower Elgin Theatre.
• The Elgin Theatre's LARES electroacoustic enhancement system, installed in 1991 to improve acoustics.
• The Elgin Theatre has hosted the Toronto International Film Festival since 1979.

Tickets & tours

Ways to visit Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres

Cheapest way inToronto Essentials Tour: Old Town & Downtown Highlights (PWYC)4.8★ · 43 travelers~2 hoursFree cancellationFrom$4 per personSee dates →Most bookedAdmission Ticket: Explore Canada in Miniature Scale4.9★ · 461 travelers2-3 hoursFree cancellationFrom$33 per personSee dates →Top ratedToronto Ghost Tour: The Original Haunted Walk4.8★ · 200 travelers~1 hourFree cancellationFrom$27 per personSee dates →

Know before you go

• The theatres are stacked: the Winter Garden is six storeys above the Elgin.
• The Elgin Theatre has hosted the Toronto International Film Festival since 1979.

A bit of history

The theatres were built in 1913 as the flagship of Marcus Loew's theatre chain, designed by architect Thomas W. Lamb. The lower theatre, originally called Loew's Yonge Street Theatre, was a gold-and-marble, domed 'hard-top' for continuous vaudeville and movies. The upper Winter Garden was an 'atmospheric' country garden under the stars, with murals, tree trunk columns, and lantern lights, catering to affluent patrons. By 1928, the lower theatre converted to sound films and the upper theatre closed, remaining shuttered for about sixty years. Inside it was a large collection of vaudeville flats and scenery, now the world's largest surviving collection. In 1981, the Ontario Heritage Foundation bought the structure. The building closed in 1987 for full restoration and reopened in 1989.