Empress Theatre

The Empress Theatre, also known as Cinema V, remains a dormant cultural structure embedded in Montréal’s urban fabric. Opened in 1927, it was conceived as a vaudeville and silent film venue, its Egyptian Revival façade marking a moment of architectural fascination shaped by early twentieth-century cinema culture. Over decades, the building underwent repeated interior transformations as its function shifted from theatre to cabaret, then to art cinema and commercial film exhibition. These adaptations progressively erased much of the original interior design, leaving only fragmented decorative elements. After a fire in 1992 forced its closure, the building entered a prolonged period of inactivity. Since then, numerous restoration attempts have emerged and dissolved, leaving the structure suspended between preservation and erasure. Today, the theatre endures as a sealed presence, its exterior still legible while its interior remains unresolved, carrying the accumulated memory of cultural use without renewal.