Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre

Description:

• The Canadian Opera Company is the largest opera company in Canada and one of the largest in North America. Since 2006, they have been performing in the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, but they still own the Joey and Toby Tanenbaum Opera Centre on Front Street. It is made up of two 19th century industrial buildings. The Purifying House was built in the late 1880s by Consumers Gas Company, and The Standard Woollen Mills was built in 1882 by the same architect who designed Casa Loma and the old City Hall. The Canadian Opera Company acquired the buildings in 1985 and renovated them extensively. They now house the 450-seat Imperial Oil Theatre, as well as rehearsal spaces, administrative offices, a box office, the wigs and make-up department, a music library, the archives, and props and costumes workshops. Tours of the buildings are available for a fee, providing insight into the behind-the-scenes workings of the opera company.
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