Orpheum (Vancouver)

The Orpheum in Vancouver, British Columbia, is known as the permanent home of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, but it has a much longer history than that. It's located on Granville Street, near Smithe Street, and if you look at the interior, you might recognize it from the 2004 reboot of *Battlestar Galactica*, where it was used to portray a heavenly opera house.

This building hosted its first shows on November 7, 1927, and officially opened as a vaudeville house the very next day. It was designed by a Scottish architect named Marcus Priteca. Back then, it was actually called the New Orpheum, because there was an older Orpheum at 761 Granville Street, which later became the Vancouver Theatre, then the Lyric, the International Cinema, and then the Lyric again before it was demolished in 1969. When this New Orpheum opened, it was the biggest theatre in Canada, with three thousand seats, and it cost $1.25 million to build. William A. Barnes was its first manager.

After vaudeville’s popularity declined in the early 1930s, the Orpheum became mostly a movie house under Famous Players, though it still had occasional live events. Ivan Ackery managed the theatre for most of this time, from 1935 until his retirement in 1969.

In 1973, Famous Players planned to gut the interior and turn it into a multiplex, but a public protest and fundraising campaign, which even Jack Benny helped with, saved it. The City of Vancouver bought the theatre on March 19, 1974, for $7.1 million, with funding from the city, province, and federal governments. It closed on November 23, 1975, for renovation and restoration by Thomson, Berwick, Pratt and Partners. Tony Heinsbergen, who originally chose the interior's color scheme of ivory, moss green, gold, and burgundy, was brought back for this work, fifty years later. It reopened on April 2, 1977, and that's when the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra moved in. An additional entrance was added on Smithe Street in 1983.

The Orpheum was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1979. The neon sign you see now was installed in the 1970s, donated by Jim Pattison. Both the theatre and its sign have been featured in shows like *Battlestar Galactica*, *Fringe*, and *Highlander: The Series*, and it was also a filming location for the Dan Mangan documentary *What Happens Next?*

More recently, in 2006, the Capitol Residences development was proposed next door. The City of Vancouver allowed the developer extra height and density in exchange for a major expansion of the Orpheum, including a much-needed backstage area. This was the largest amenities trade in the city's history.