You Can Submit Your Idea To Transform NDG's Empress Theatre & Strange Ideas Are Welcome

The city wants you to imagine a future for the iconic building.
Contributing Writer

Montrealers will have their say on the future of the iconic Empress Theatre and no proposal is too far-out.

“Share your ideas, even the most unusual ones, and imagine what that space could be like in the future,” stated the city in a news release.

With its iconic Egyptian façade and the magnificence of a bygone era, the Empress has stood at the heart of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce for almost a hundred years.

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The time has finally come to talk about the Empress.

The City of Montreal

Built in 1927 by Confederation Amusement Ltd., it was an elegant venue for soirées of burlesque, cabaret, and cinema at its height but has sat abandoned since a 1992 fire.

It was acquired by the borough of Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce in 2011.

Significant attempts to revive the theatre were made over the last few years to halt its decay. Sadly, none of them worked.

In March, the borough gave a mandate to the Société d’habitation et de développement de Montréal (SHDM) to come up with a plan to save the building.

The aim of the project is to turn the building into a mixed-use facility with residential, cultural, and commercial components. Due to COVID-19, the public consultation will be held online.

So, an indoor wave pool? A building for artists and those in need of shelter? Or yet more condos? You have until December 3 to submit your ideas and a final public vote on the proposals is scheduled for December 11.

  • Ezra Black
  • Contributing Writer

    Ezra Black is a contributing writer for MTL Blog. He was born and raised in Montreal and loves the city and its amazing people. Feel free to reach out: ezrablack@mtlblog.com

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