The Yukon Film Society is working to repair and refresh the Yukon Theatre building, bringing back some of its historical glow.
When the Yukon Theatre first opened its doors on December 3, 1954, it was billed as a sophisticated night on the town. Advertisements asked patrons to leave their children at home, tickets sold out, and theatre-goers dressed up for the Yukon premiere of The Glenn Miller Story in the new theatre located on Wood Street in Whitehorse.
It was one of the first purpose-built cinemas in the territory, and the Whitehorse Star called its design “… one of the Yukon’s finest, showing taste and quality design rare in the North …”.
Throughout its 70 years in operation, the Yukon Theatre building has seen many renovations, many different owners, and many different exterior paint colours.
Since 2021, the Yukon Film Society (YFS) has been working hard to bring the building back into shape, including fixing and replacing the unique neon letters on the theatre’s exterior.
This work was done with support from the Historic Properties Assistance (HPA) program administered through the Government of Yukon’s Historic Sites Unit. The HPA program provides funding to preserve, restore, develop or interpret privately-owned historically significant properties in the Yukon.
“The sign is iconic,” says YFS Artistic Director Andrew Connors. “We see people taking photos of the building and the sign every day, and the cinema holds a special place in the hearts of a lot of Yukoners.”
In October 2023, the sign was repainted with marine paint so it can better withstand the elements. Then, because a third of the glass-tube letters had been damaged through the years, they were rebuilt and replaced along with many of the transformers.
A lighting company in Vancouver did the work. It required two trips to Whitehorse: one to examine the letters and determine what supplies they needed to bring back; the second to do the repairs and replacements.
In 2023, the project won the Heritage Conservation Project of the Year Award from the Yukon Historical and Museums Association.
“We saw an opportunity to bring the sign back to life,” says Connors. “We’re in the process of restoring the building bit by bit as we can get resources to make it a great space again for community events and film enjoyment.”
Opening the theatre as a community space has been a YFS goal for years. When the theatre closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and the owners decided not to re-open, there was an opportunity for the society to lease the space and run it themselves.
Since the theatre reopened in 2021, YFS has been screening a wide variety of films, from arthouse to blockbuster, hosting special events during its annual Available Light Film Festival and renting it out to community groups for education and entertainment.
Although much has changed, including the configuration of the theatres and the lobby, the building has retained some of its original interesting features. For example, the upstairs projector room still has thick metal doors and shutters on the windows, reminders of a time when projectionists had to contend with an extremely flammable type of film made from cellulose nitrate. The film caught fire easily, burned hot, and was difficult to extinguish.
If a reel of film caught fire, the doors and shutters would close, trapping the operator in the room to deal with the blaze while the audience was able to exit the building safely. Tucked behind the projector room was a small bathroom containing a shower that the projectionist could use if the flames became too hot.
Thankfully, cellulose nitrate film was largely discontinued in the 1950s and replaced by a safer acetate film.
Over the years the theatre was painted and repainted many different colours, including sage green, orange and navy blue, and white and light blue. Its first-floor windows were covered to make space to hang movie posters. In the future, YFS plans to uncover and re-open the windows to bring more natural light into the lobby.
In 1987, the theatre was twinned, so two films could be shown at once—another renovation that YFS plans to undo. If they can find the funding, YFS plans to un-twin the theatres, restoring it to its original one-screen configuration.
One step at a time, the YFS team is working to repair and refresh the building. They started with the exterior and the neon sign to signal to the community that the theatre was up and running again.
“We figured that the sign would be another beacon in the downtown, especially in the winter, illustrating that the cinema is open again, and to try and get people excited to come back,” says Connors.
“We talk to people all the time who come through with stories and memories to share about experiences they’ve had here and what the building means to them. I mean, this theatre is a conduit to 70 years of Whitehorse history and Yukon history.”To find out more about the HPA program, visit yukon.ca/historic-properties-assistance-program.
