Robillard Building, Heritage building in downtown Montreal, Canada.
The Robillard Building was a Neo-Renaissance structure at 974 Saint Laurent Boulevard, on the corner of Viger Street in Montreal's Chinatown. Built in 1879, it had a symmetrical facade with ornamental stone details and regular window patterns. It was destroyed by fire on 17 November 2016.
Built in 1879 in the Neo-Renaissance style by the architectural partnership of Théodore Daoust and Arthur Gendron, the Robillard Building first served as a commercial building. It was converted into a hotel in 1890, then housed the Gaiety Museum and Theatorium in 1891 before becoming the Palace Theatre. It burned down on 17 November 2016 and was not rebuilt.
The building's name comes from the Robillard family, and its ground floor housed shops while upper floors held the Gaiety Museum and Theatorium from 1891, a Victorian curiosity show with a gallery of oddities. In 1896 it became the Palace Theatre, a variety and vaudeville venue. The surrounding blocks later formed Montreal's Chinatown.
The building no longer exists: it burned down on 17 November 2016, and since 2022 a condominium has been under construction on the site at 974, boulevard Saint-Laurent, at the corner of rue Viger in Montreal's Chinatown. Visitors can only see that corner and the new construction, not the former building.
The first films shown in June 1896 were projected onto a screen the size of a towel, and the whole programme of 10 to 18 views lasted about half an hour. Louis Minier and his assistant Louis Pupier presented them, before touring Quebec and Ontario.
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