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Toronto -- After years of use as a vaudeville theatre, a bingo hall and a movie house, the Runnymede Theatre in westend Toronto is undergoing yet another transformation.
By October, the building will be carefully restored, renovated and reopened as a Chapters bookstore.
For Petroff Partnership Architects, the challenge has been to adapt the heritage building into a viable bookstore which retains the spirit of the original theatre.
Built in 1927-28, the red-brick building was probably the first "atmospheric" theatre in Ontario in which the auditorium was decorated to evoke the illusion of watching a show in an outdoor courtyard.
Since its opening, the theatre has undergone two renovations, the first in 1947-49 and a second in 1980.
The result is a building with a succession of styles, said project architect Michaela Weiner.
With that in mind, the exterior will be restored combining different elements of the eras, including the 1947...