At one time, rue Saint-François-Xavier in Old Montreal was the heart of the city’s financial district, running north from the Old Port and located not far from other key institutions of trade and power, such as the nearby Bank of Montreal on rue Notre-Dame.
Photo : Marcel Bernier
The former Stock Exchange building, a Beaux-Arts structure designed in 1903 by American architect George Browne Post (with help from Montreal’s famous Maxwell brothers) still stands on rue Saint-François- Xavier today.
Six massive Corinthian columns dominate the building’s western façade, giving the impression, as they had been designed to do in the early twentieth century, of a hexastyle Roman temple. But Post did not feel obliged to honour perfectly the historical form to which his design refers – the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli. Rejecting the circular form of the Tivoli temple, the Stock Exchange design is solidly rectangular (with two axial wings that once met the stockbrokers’ practical needs for meeting spaces and cloakrooms); the stylobate is five steps rather than blind, and the fine-cut marble swag and lions’ heads decorating the frieze bear only passing resemblance to the decorative schemes of the original. Here, the architectural message is one of plenty, and of power. Yet happily – for such a staid design – the façade also conveys drama with its soaring porch, wrought-iron fenestration and the generous, elegantly-appointed volume of the former Exchange floor.
This drama may have inspired, in part, the decision in 1969 to locate the Centaur Theatre in this venerable survivor of Montreal’s financial heyday, and the architectural traces of this era. The Centaur moved in a few years after the Stock Exchange relocated to the Tour de la Bourse in Square Victoria, and in 1974 purchased the building outright, giving Montreal architect Victor Prus the opportunity to reshape its interior spaces into two theatres. The Centaur’s links with well-respected architects continued into the 1990s, when Éric Gauthier (lately recognized for his thoughtful renovation of another playhouse, the Théatre de Quat’Sous in 2009) reworked the interior spaces to create a more accessible, social and user-friendly theatre. The Centaur itself has been a Montreal fixture for English-language theatre since 1969, when South African actor and teacher Maurice Podbrey was hired as the company’s first artistic director. The Centaur has often been a leader in bringing Montrealthemed works to the public, giving plays such as David Fennario’s now-famous Balconville and this summer’s hit musical, Schwartz’s – The Musical (Bowser and Blue) their world premiere. In fact, for those who missed the first run of the smoked meat musical, the theatre has added additional summer performances that will run from July 20 to August 7.
During a regular season the venue offers six unique theatrical events. Beyond planning the season and organizing the numerous people involved in a production, each new show is a huge undertaking that involves the construction of sets and hours upon hours of rehearsal time for the players. Much of this takes place over a four-week period at the Centaur’s second building: a repurposed nineteenth-century police station located in Griffintown. Here actors, directors, dancers and the set construction team assemble the material and creative energy that will eventually manifest as a theatrical performance in Old Montréal on one of the Centaur’s stages.
While the historic exterior of the Centaur has changed little since the building’s conception, the interior changes constantly to meet the needs of each new performance as well as the shifting demographics of the theatre’s clientele. In fact, changes are once again in the building’s future. Plans for the two theatre spaces include updates to back-of-house equipment, such as energy-efficient lighting to replace the large and very hot lamps currently in use. In addition, the Centaur expects to invest in changes that will make the theatre increasingly accessible and comfortable, by creating more room around each seat for example. Communications director for the Centaur, Eloi Savoie explained that while the Centaur is a perfect venue for theatre buffs, it is also a very popular tourist destination. But most of all, it is a great way to spend time with friends, family or visitors from out-of-town. Indeed, this summer the combination of the historic building and Schwartz’s – The Musical make the Centaur Theatre a particularly exciting way to experience the fascinating architecture of Old Montreal and learn about a significant part of the city’s history - the smoked-meat deli: a far cry from the stock brokers who once used this space daily, but not so far, perhaps from the stock - cattle - from which our modern financial institutions take their name.
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