The lobby in this building—one of Calgary’s salvaged historical treasures dating back to 1912—leads to a wide spiral staircase, which at first glance looks a little rough. It’s meant to be exactly as it appears because the current owners chose, rather than renovating the space, to restore it and embrace the building’s colourful past. “A lot of people come in and think we are in the fixer-up stage,” says the GRAND’s marketing and sales manager David Gardner.

Today the sprawling old three-storey building boasts an eclectic mix of yesterday and today. Hanging in the front foyer, for instance, are eye-catching chandeliers made of bunches of glass bottles, the ends smashed and jagged—a creation by artist Eric Sauve.

Nearby in Velvet Restaurant and Lounge, old wooden catwalks salvaged from storage in the basement see new life as decorative enhancements, suspended from the ceiling. Meanwhile, in a rehearsal studio upstairs there is an original projection booth from the 1950s—all in a building appealing to any history buff with its beautiful exposed brick reconciled with modern paint colours on the walls and funky lighting throughout.

The Theatre Junction Society bought the building located at 608-1 Street S.W. in 2005 and took about a year to restore it to their liking. Make no mistake: despite its age, this building is fully functional for its modern-day purposes. “It’s cool to see the old historical artifacts,” Gardner says. “But it’s pretty solid,” he says of the building, adding, “and it’s state-of-the-art equipment we have here.”

Indeed. The theatre boasts a capacity near 400 and motorized seating with eight possible configurations.

Hanging above is lighting weighing 16 tonnes. And unlike more conventional theatres, there is no raised stage, but instead a large open area for performances to unfold, appealing to both artists and audiences.

“Everyone loves it, it’s like no other space—they’re so impressed,” Gardner says.

When it was built as part of the Lougheed Block in 1912, designed by architect L. R. Wardrop, it was the largest theatre in the Pacific Northwest attracting stars like Fred Astaire, the Marx Brothers and Arthur Rubinstein. At the time Calgary had a population hovering around 50,000.

Over the years the building has hosted its share of varied ventures. Not only was it a place for symphonies and ballets, but the impressive space also served as a venue for political rallies held by the likes of Nellie McClung of the Famous Five. It was a movie theatre for about 50 years and a golf dome with its driving ranges not long before it became Theatre Junction at the GRAND.

This resilient building, now surrounded by high-rises and construction sites nearby which have replaced other old structures, nearly became a parking lot before the Theatre Junction Society stepped in. After raising $12 million to buy the building, it re-opened the place in February 2006 as Theatre Junction at the GRAND. There are even limited-edition bags for sale, partially created with the tarp which hung over the building before it was pulled away to reveal the completed restoration.

Today, Theatre Junction at the GRAND hosts dance performances, music concerts—and of course, theatre productions. The vision is to see it serve as a “culture house” or, in other words, a place where people can enjoy performances, artwork on the walls and—rather than being hustled in and out—linger in its quarters to share their ideas and reactions. In recent years, for example, Canadian crooner Avril Lavigne performed for a special-guests only show and there have been more than 75,000 visits to the building.

In the lobby, Canadian Rocky Mountain Resorts runs Velvet Restaurant and Lounge, catering to the lunch crowd during the week and dinner guests every evening, as well as catering private events on occasion.

On the second floor is a cosy lounge with a circular opening that’s surrounded by pretty guardrails, overlooking the main lobby as well as an interesting unisex washroom where men and women share sink areas but have separate gender-specific water closet areas.

Not leaving any space unused, Velvet staffers prepare meals in a kitchen in the basement beside dressing rooms where performers ready themselves to hit the stage. CL