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Owner of Orillia's Geneva Event Centre taking building 'back to 1939' (4 photos)

Major facade work happening on downtown Orillia building

An iconic building in downtown Orillia is getting a facelift.

Work on the front of the Geneva Event Centre began about a month ago as owner Donald Porter looks to return the facade to its glory days.

“I’m trying to take it back to 1939,” he said, noting that’s the year it was built. “I’m trying to recreate, as close as possible, what was there.”

It will have a modern touch with a digital, LED marquee, but otherwise it’s all about going retro. The red brick that wasn’t part of the original facade has been removed. Underneath are large cement tiles, like the ones higher up, but they cannot be salvaged, so they will be replicated in stucco.

In a throwback to the theatre’s early days, the box office will reopen and people will be able to purchase event tickets from the sidewalk.

Porter said it’s a labour of love.

“I don’t think it’s going to increase the value of the place, but we’re having fun doing it,” he said. “I’m not just trying to throw together a building. I’m putting a lot of work in to make it look cool.”

That includes the interior, with a classic colour scheme of red and white at the bar and in the restrooms.

Taking into account all of the work that has been put into the interior and the current work going into the facade, the project is costing Porter about $300,000.

It’s worth it, he said, and the inspiration is his mother, Elizabeth, who took him to the theatre to watch movies after they moved to town in 1977.

“I loved this building when I first saw it,” he said. “When she passed on, I was left with a pretty good inheritance and I decided to do this. This is her place.”

His goal since buying the building has also been to provide space for community groups, with upcoming events including Ripple of Kindness, performances by Orillia high-school students as part of the jazz festival, and the Downtown Orillia Management Board’s annual general meeting.

“This place is going to be used how I intended it. I wanted it to be a community hub,” Porter said.

He has stopped hosting regular concerts because of the amount of time patrons have to wait for a cab in town, but he hopes to see a solution to that problem and to start having concerts again.

He would also like the city to designate the building for its historical significance “so no one can take the face of it and put red brick on it again.”

“It’s important for the town,” he said of the Geneva. “I’m taking this on as a bit of a responsibility to Orillia. The building’s bigger than me. It’s more important than me. Once the town has it back, I hope they respect it.”

Porter hopes to have the project finished by mid-November.

Follow the progress and get a glimpse of the venue's history on the Geneva Theatre Facebook page and check out upcoming events at the Geneva Event Centre Facebook page.


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Nathan Taylor

About the Author: Nathan Taylor

Nathan Taylor is the desk editor for Village Media's central Ontario news desk in Simcoe County and Newmarket.
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