I Miss the Uptown
Dec. 3rd, 2011 05:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jamesqCalgary doesn't have a lot of good buildings. Booming in the 70's and 90's its buildings tended to have a blocky sort of utilitarianess that broadcasts this is a place for working, not for enjoying. Calgary is, sadly, a city of ugly buildings placed inside a beautiful river valley. When people talk about how nice Calgary is, it's because of the wealth of natural resources we find ourselves in, not the architecture.
There are exceptions of course, but not many. One of my favourites is the Barron Building, site of the Uptown Theatre.
Calgary's first skyscraper, it was designed in an age when we still tried to make office buildings attractive. It was opened in 1951 and has seen a range of owners since then. The reasons for keeping the Barron Building around - for restoring it to its former glory in fact - are plentiful.
I know a guy (he's on LJ and contributes to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
calgarians, so he can out himself if he chooses) who was the former projectionist for the Uptown. A few years ago, he was kind enough to give me a behind-the-screen look at the workings of the theatre. It was around that time that the Uptown went from being one of my favourites to my favourite. I especially love the upper theatre for it's slanted design, it's "secret" viewing room and spacious stage. It's a great venue to watch a movie on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The first movie I remember watching there was Xanadu (I was 12, don't you judge me) during it's first run. I've seen animation festivals, foreign and art movies, documentaries along with big Hollywood epics. It was my go-to theatre for weird shit I wanted to see that I couldn't convince others to join me for. The last film I saw was Rango some months ago. I was literally the only person in the theatre, which is a little sad.
In short, the Uptown was a movie theatre for people who loved the movies. Not just liked the movies (and who doesn't like movies), but loved them.
Aside from being a patron of the theatre, I have no other connection to it. I'm not affiliated with either the building or theatre owners.
And now it's closed, pending the resolution between the theatre and building owners. You can read the Uptown's side of the story here. Strategic Equities, the Barron Building's owners, aren't talking. TL;DR version: The Uptown claims that Strategic hasn't been providing adequate heat or maintenance to the property, so they're suing. Strategic has applied to have the Uptown's marquee demolished.
My suspicion? Strategic doesn't want the Uptown in their building but can't simply kick them out. That pretty much just leaves making them want to leave. It's not a new tactic for Calgary building owners. I remember back in early 80's when the building on the corner of Memorial and 10th street (where Julio's Barrio is now) burned down after being largely abandoned following the 80's bust. Vagrants got into it during the winter to use for shelter, built a fire to keep warm and it got out of hand. A similar fate befell the Buena Vista house in Crescent Heights in 1999 - a building that got multiple offers to buy every month, but sat empty for years.
I wonder about the motives of a property owner deciding that it is better to neglect a building to death rather than either develop it properly, or sell it to someone more willing. Historical buildings are more expensive to upkeep and restore, and there are often extra rules involved in doing so. I suspect that a lot of owners bought historical buildings for the value of the land. When they find they can't simply do what they want with it, they get pissy about it. If they can't do what they want, then nobody can do anything with it. But then, why buy a historical property in the first place if you know you can't simply turn it into condos?
Proving such neglect was intentional is difficult. Sometimes people aren't malicious, they're just stupid.
The Barron Building is largely disused now. I think a handful of offices are occupied, but most of its ten floors certainly look abandoned from the outside. That's a sad fate for a landmark that was largely responsible for all the oil companies coming here instead of Edmonton. I'd rather not read how vagrants broke into it and accidentally set fire to the theatre lobby, and well, it's just too expensive to rebuild the theatre, so lets use this alternate redevelopment plan we just happened to have on the shelf.
In my ideal world, Strategic sells the building to someone with the money and vision to restore the building to its retro glory - a 1951 Art Deco marvel with modern amenities for the best businesses the city has to offer. Maybe provide some space to the arts community (Practice space for amateur theatre troupes for example). Above all, a newly revitalized Uptown theatre, showing the best movies that the accountants working for the movie-megaplexes don't think are middle-of-the-road enough.
Sadly, I'm not rich, so I can't do it myself. I do imagine it whenever the lottery pay-outs get high enough though.
Anyone else have a story about the Uptown theatre or the Barron Building? I'd love to hear it.
(Cross-posted tocalgarians)
There are exceptions of course, but not many. One of my favourites is the Barron Building, site of the Uptown Theatre.
Calgary's first skyscraper, it was designed in an age when we still tried to make office buildings attractive. It was opened in 1951 and has seen a range of owners since then. The reasons for keeping the Barron Building around - for restoring it to its former glory in fact - are plentiful.
I know a guy (he's on LJ and contributes to
calgarians, so he can out himself if he chooses) who was the former projectionist for the Uptown. A few years ago, he was kind enough to give me a behind-the-screen look at the workings of the theatre. It was around that time that the Uptown went from being one of my favourites to my favourite. I especially love the upper theatre for it's slanted design, it's "secret" viewing room and spacious stage. It's a great venue to watch a movie on a lazy Sunday afternoon. The first movie I remember watching there was Xanadu (I was 12, don't you judge me) during it's first run. I've seen animation festivals, foreign and art movies, documentaries along with big Hollywood epics. It was my go-to theatre for weird shit I wanted to see that I couldn't convince others to join me for. The last film I saw was Rango some months ago. I was literally the only person in the theatre, which is a little sad.In short, the Uptown was a movie theatre for people who loved the movies. Not just liked the movies (and who doesn't like movies), but loved them.
Aside from being a patron of the theatre, I have no other connection to it. I'm not affiliated with either the building or theatre owners.
And now it's closed, pending the resolution between the theatre and building owners. You can read the Uptown's side of the story here. Strategic Equities, the Barron Building's owners, aren't talking. TL;DR version: The Uptown claims that Strategic hasn't been providing adequate heat or maintenance to the property, so they're suing. Strategic has applied to have the Uptown's marquee demolished.
My suspicion? Strategic doesn't want the Uptown in their building but can't simply kick them out. That pretty much just leaves making them want to leave. It's not a new tactic for Calgary building owners. I remember back in early 80's when the building on the corner of Memorial and 10th street (where Julio's Barrio is now) burned down after being largely abandoned following the 80's bust. Vagrants got into it during the winter to use for shelter, built a fire to keep warm and it got out of hand. A similar fate befell the Buena Vista house in Crescent Heights in 1999 - a building that got multiple offers to buy every month, but sat empty for years.
I wonder about the motives of a property owner deciding that it is better to neglect a building to death rather than either develop it properly, or sell it to someone more willing. Historical buildings are more expensive to upkeep and restore, and there are often extra rules involved in doing so. I suspect that a lot of owners bought historical buildings for the value of the land. When they find they can't simply do what they want with it, they get pissy about it. If they can't do what they want, then nobody can do anything with it. But then, why buy a historical property in the first place if you know you can't simply turn it into condos?
Proving such neglect was intentional is difficult. Sometimes people aren't malicious, they're just stupid.
The Barron Building is largely disused now. I think a handful of offices are occupied, but most of its ten floors certainly look abandoned from the outside. That's a sad fate for a landmark that was largely responsible for all the oil companies coming here instead of Edmonton. I'd rather not read how vagrants broke into it and accidentally set fire to the theatre lobby, and well, it's just too expensive to rebuild the theatre, so lets use this alternate redevelopment plan we just happened to have on the shelf.
In my ideal world, Strategic sells the building to someone with the money and vision to restore the building to its retro glory - a 1951 Art Deco marvel with modern amenities for the best businesses the city has to offer. Maybe provide some space to the arts community (Practice space for amateur theatre troupes for example). Above all, a newly revitalized Uptown theatre, showing the best movies that the accountants working for the movie-megaplexes don't think are middle-of-the-road enough.
Sadly, I'm not rich, so I can't do it myself. I do imagine it whenever the lottery pay-outs get high enough though.
Anyone else have a story about the Uptown theatre or the Barron Building? I'd love to hear it.
(Cross-posted to
calgarians)
