About
A heritage jewel and a major cultural landmark in Québec, the Théâtre Capitole is the performance venue of the Capitole of Québec, located on Place D’Youville. Revitalized by Jean Pilote in the 1990s, the Théâtre Capitole has hosted renowned artists for over 30 years on its unique, century-old stage, with a seating capacity of up to 1,300 spectators. In 2020, Quebecor Sports and Entertainment acquired the theatre to enhance its show offerings and expand its portfolio of performance venues, creating a diversified ecosystem for promoters, artists, and music and culture enthusiasts.
1903-1927
The Birth of a Theatre
As early as 1897, the idea of creating a new venue in Québec to host American vaudeville shows emerged among certain promoters, but moral opposition from the Catholic clergy to professional theatre delayed the project.
In 1902, after several unsuccessful attempts, Québec Mayor Simon-Napoléon Parent founded, along with several businessmen, the Compagnie de l’Auditorium de Québec Limitée, becoming its president. This company negotiated the use of the St. John Bastion ditch with Canada’s Ministry of Militia and Defence and hired American architect Walter S. Painter to construct the hall, then called the Auditorium of Québec.
After several months of construction, the new building was inaugurated in grand style on August 31 and September 1, 1903, with two concerts by the Société symphonique de Québec (the predecessor of today’s OSQ).
Initially, the Auditorium hosted vaudeville shows, amateur and professional theatre, opera, and French and English language variety performances. Vaudeville, defined as comedic situations full of twists, showcased singers, dancers, comedians, jugglers, acrobats, ventriloquists, and magicians.
Notable performers of the era included Sarah Bernhardt in 1905 and soprano Emma Albani in 1906, both on farewell tours.
On March 29, 1918, during World War I, a riot broke out when an estimated 12,000 people gathered at Place D’Youville to protest conscription, a law requiring Canadian men aged 20 to 35 to serve in the military. The conscription registrar’s offices housed in the Auditorium were vandalized, and rioters set a fire, which firefighters contained, causing only limited damage.
In the following months, the Compagnie de l’Auditorium repaired the building and added a large screen for silent American films, accompanied by music with or without an orchestra.
1927-1970
At the Heart of Cultural Life
In the 1920s, the growing popularity of silent films called for a building better suited for showing “moving pictures.” In 1927, the Auditorium underwent a major renovation designed by American architect Thomas White Lamb, assisted by Québec architect Héliodore Laberge.
The hall was expanded to seat 2,000 people, replacing two balconies with a single extended balcony. Reception areas were improved, the interior décor enhanced, and cinematic equipment installed, including a Casavant organ to accompany silent films.
In 1930, the Auditorium partnered with Famous Players, which renamed it the Capitol, a name common across North America. Soon, talking films replaced silent films in popular demand.
Despite cinema’s growing prominence, classical singers continued to perform at the Capitol, including Québecois artists Raoul Jobin, Richard Verreault, Léopold Simoneau, and Pierrette Alarie. Theatre troupes and performers such as Gratien Gélinas, Madeleine Renaud, Jean-Louis Barrault, Marcel Pagnol, Gérard Philipe, and Louis Jouvet also appeared, alongside the Canadian Ballet Company and popular singers like Maurice Chevalier, Fernandel, Léo Ferré, and Alys Robi.
The Capitol created a real cultural buzz at Place D’Youville. In 1932, during the Great Depression, the City of Québec built the Palais Montcalm on the foundations of a former market hall, including a pool, library, and a large concert hall for the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and numerous French music artists.
In 1935, the third floor of the Capitol housed the studios of radio station CKCV, which broadcast from there until 1974.
In 1948, the Cinéma de Paris opened right next to the Capitol. In its early days, Cinéma de Paris premiered films imported from France by France-Film.
From the 1950s onward, the Capitol welcomed a new generation of popular French singers, including Yves Montand, Gilbert Bécaud, and Charles Aznavour, as well as crooners such as Georges Guétary, Carlos Ramirez, Nelson Eddy, and Luis Mariano.
During the 1960s, the Capitol hosted classical ballet performances, folk dances from Canada and abroad, Québecois and French theatre, as well as fashion shows, in addition to regularly screening films.
Special events also marked the life of the Capitol. On October 9, 1951, a gala evening honored Princess Elizabeth and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. In 1953, British filmmaker Alfred Hitchcock presented the world premiere of his film I Confess, which had been shot in Québec the previous year. On October 11, 1964, the music of the Royal 22nd Regiment filled the hall for the first time during the regiment’s 50th anniversary celebration.
1970–1992
Decline and Recognition
Film activities faced competition from new suburban theatres and emerging media. Furthermore, the opening of the Grand Théâtre de Québec in 1971, which became the city’s main performance venue with expanded technical capabilities and other attractions, marked the definitive decline of the Capitol’s role in Québec’s artistic life, drawing both performers and audiences away from Place D’Youville.
On April 7, 1981, after contributing 80 years to Québec’s cultural growth, the Capitol closed its doors. The premiere of Les Plouffe, directed by Gilles Carle, closed a chapter in the building’s history.
With no other plans to make the property profitable, the owner, Famous Players, put the unoccupied, emptied building up for sale in the summer of 1983. From that point, the deterioration that had begun in the 1960s only worsened.
Acquired by a real estate developer in 1985, a commercial project was planned for the building. Some demolition work began, but the project was abandoned. Water infiltration damaged the interior finishes, while theft of stained glass panels and the lobby chandelier, along with acts of vandalism, added to the building’s damage.
In 1984, the Capitol was designated a Heritage Building by the Ministry of Cultural Affairs (Ministry of Culture and Communications). This designation was intended to ensure protection of the building, requiring the owner to obtain ministerial authorization before undertaking certain interventions on classified heritage properties, such as restoration or demolition.
In 1986, the Capitol was also designated a National Historic Site of Canada by the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. These protective statuses were added to its designation as a heritage site in Old Québec, decreed in 1964, which includes the site of the Théâtre Capitole. In 1985, the historic district of Old Québec was inscribed on the prestigious UNESCO World Heritage List.
1992-2016
The Renaissance
Nearly a decade after its closure, a group of promoters from the music, live entertainment, and television sectors took possession of the building to revive this heritage site. Their project aimed to transform the building into a 1,400-seat venue capable of hosting various cabaret-style performances, a 40-room hotel, and a restaurant. The architecture firm Denis Saint-Louis & Associates relied on extensive historical research to carry out major restoration, renovation, code compliance, and expansion work while preserving the building’s original features.
These interventions reintegrated the complex into the urban life of Place D’Youville. Winner of numerous architecture and heritage awards, the project was widely acclaimed by the public, elected officials, and urban planning experts.
On November 21, 1992, the Théâtre Capitole reclaimed its place in Québec’s cultural life with the inauguration gala Un siècle sur scène, broadcast on television and hosted by Rémy Girard and Marc-André Coallier, in collaboration with the Quebec Symphony Orchestra and Francophone music stars including Céline Dion, Robert Charlebois, Patrick Bruel, René and Nathalie Simard, Alys Robi, and Michel Sardou.
Returning to its primary function, the venue welcomed numerous performers, singer-songwriters, comedians, and magicians—mostly French-speaking Québecois, including Bruno Pelletier, Éric Lapointe, François Morency, Jean-Pierre Ferland, Ginette Reno, Lynda Lemay, Luc Langevin, André-Philippe Gagnon, Marc Dupré, Mario Pelchat, Jean Lapointe, Martin Matte, Michel Legrand, Gregory Charles, Julien Clerc, Jean Leloup, Lara Fabian, Plume Latraverse, Roch Voisine, Marc Hervieux, Marie-Mai, Michel Louvain, Patrick Huard, Steve Barakatt, Johnny Hallyday, and Véronic DiCaire. English-speaking and internationally renowned artists also performed, such as Diana Krall, B.B. King, Anne Murray, Dennis DeYoung, Georges Thorogood, Helmut Lotti, Kenny Rogers, Michael Bolton, and Patch Adams. Bands representing a variety of genres also graced the Capitole stage, including Les Colocs, Les Cowboys Fringants, Simple Plan, Tea Party, Tragically Hip, Yes, Gilbert Bécaud, Charles Aznavour, Serge Lama, Charles Trenet, and Raymond Devos.
Specifically, the Capitole distinguished itself through musical theatre productions and shows such as Cats, Génération Motown, Ladies Night, Les Misérables, Québec Issime, Sherazade, The Man in Black (tribute to Johnny Cash), and Saturday Night Fever, which were highly popular and ran for multiple performances. However, the biggest rock’n’roll star, Elvis Presley (1935–1977), received the most popular acclaim. The variety show Elvis Story, which chronicled the international star’s life from his beginnings to his death, ran at the Capitole during the summer seasons from 1995 to 2007, and again in 2009 and 2010. Elvis Story became the most popular variety show in Québec show-business history, presented over 1,500 times worldwide to nearly 1.7 million spectators. The Elvis Experience then continued until 2016. In these productions, the famous singer was once again portrayed by Martin Fontaine, accompanied by numerous musicians and backing vocalists.
Through these activities, the Théâtre Capitole helped restore Place D’Youville as a cultural hub. The rehabilitation of the Palais Montcalm in 2007 and the opening of the Théâtre Diamant by Robert Lepage further reinforced this “entertainment square,” with the Capitole as its cornerstone.
Architecture
In Québec, the Capitole is the only surviving example of the grand theatres built between 1900 and 1930. It provides a remarkable illustration of the transition between traditional theatres and those designed for cinema. When it was built in 1903, architect Painter skillfully used the narrow site to create a striking and harmonious façade. The development in three distinct sections, connected by a promenade corridor and arranged around a central lobby, demonstrates a high level of integration with the site’s constraints. The building has a relatively modern appearance, inspired by Beaux-Arts style and late Second Empire architectural vocabulary. The semi-circular monumental façade and the choice of exterior ornamentation motifs reflect a typically classical inspiration.
The 1927 transformation is one of the best examples of fusion between two decorative styles: the original Louis XIV-inspired style and the predominant Adams brothers-inspired style. In Canada, the Capitole is part of a select group of around fifteen luxurious urban theatres constructed or redesigned in the 1920s by New York consulting architect Thomas W. Lamb for American chains such as Loew’s, Keith-Albert, and Famous Players.
During the 1992 restoration, architects sought to respect the contributions of the previous two phases of the building’s evolution. Particular attention was given to preserving the interior décor of high historical and aesthetic value. The most notable spaces are the lobby, with its marble staircase, and the auditorium, both of which regained their original splendor.
Learn more about our sustainable development initiatives at the Théâtre Capitole through the Gestevert program.