The Shaw Festival has unveiled updates to the proposed design of a new Royal George Theatre in Niagara-on-the-Lake to respond to concerns from residents.
According to a news release, Shaw staff have been working with Town staff, heritage consultant architects, and Niagara Region staff to rework proposed designs, and a new zoning and heritage impact assessment was filed in August.
“We’ve listened closely to the community and made meaningful changes to the new Royal George Theatre – especially around a heritage-reflective façade, an improved residential look on Victoria Street and some reduction in overall massing,” says the release.
“At the suggestion of the Town’s heritage consultant, we have moved toward the concept of a ghost façade where the current Royal George façade stands, the front of the new Royal George will be a true echo of how it looks today.”
According to the release, a ghost façade is an architectural term for a way of preserving the building’s historical front area while replacing the remaining parts of the structure.
In addition to the ghost façade, four key additional changes are being made to respond to some feedback.
First, the new design seeks to maintain more of a residential look on Victoria Street. The new designs feature pitched roofs, and the Rehearsal Hall windows will be lowered compared to residential height with a bay window treatment to fit in better with the look of the local neighbourhood. As well, extensive planting and landscaping will help, according to the release, enhance the residential streetscape.
Second, the Shaw Festival is looking at ways to conserve elements and include historic details of the properties from the present Royal George and Victoria Street buildings to integrate into the new interior designs, as art or commemorative installations.
Third, entry to the theatre will now be at sidewalk level, instead of the proposed exterior ramped surface, which will improve accessibility to the box office. The ramp will instead be placed in the lobby, while still bringing the theatre back above the water table further back on the site.
Finally, there will be a reduction to the proposed size of the building by about 3,000 square feet above ground, which includes reducing the size of the Rehearsal Hall, the lobbies and moving the multi-purpose room on the second floor to the third floor. The Rehearsal Hall has also been set back farther back on Victoria Street and away from Prideaux Street.
On Aug. 22, The Shaw hosted a virtual community update to share these updates with the community. Approximately 100 people attended the hour-long meeting.
Jay Goldberg is the Canadian Affairs Manager at the Consumer Choice Center. He previously served as the Ontario Director at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation and a policy fellow at the Munk School of Public Policy and Global Affairs. Jay holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Toronto.
