A genuine 1909 opera house, now a rock club in Riverside
The Opera House
Built in 1909 as an actual working opera house, Toronto's Opera House later became a movie theatre before being converted into one of the city's mid-sized live rock and hip hop venues.
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The Opera House was built in 1909 on Queen Street East in what is now Toronto's Riverside neighbourhood, constructed as a genuine working opera house in an era when smaller cities and neighbourhood districts across North America still supported dedicated venues for staged musical theatre. Like many buildings of its type, it was later converted into a movie theatre as film overtook live theatrical performance as the dominant popular entertainment through the early-to-mid 20th century.
A second life as a rock venue
The building was converted again in the late 20th century, this time into a live concert venue, retaining its ornate original theatre architecture, including balcony seating unusual for a rock club, while hosting a broad mix of touring rock, hip hop and electronic acts. That combination of a genuinely historic performance space with a modern touring-band booking calendar has made The Opera House one of the more architecturally distinctive mid-sized venues in Toronto's live music circuit.
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