Adam Prudhomme
Editor
A century old building on Deseronto’s Main Street is in the midst of a major renovation, set to open as a concert venue known as Upper Canada Opera House this spring.
Ian Crerar, owner of ClearWater Design Canoes and Kayaks, acquired the building and has breathed new life into the historic structure with plans to host its first show April 18 with a performance by Spoons.
“My passion is music and to make a cool place for cool music to happen has been a dream of mine,” said Crerar. “So you have a large standing area/dance floor area, opera box upstairs for people who want to be up above it all or pay a little bit extra, and kick-ass stage for big production cool stuff to happen.”
The theatre prior to the renovation process. Photo by Deseronto Archives.
Built in 1901, Naylor’s Theatre was originally home to vaudeville acts. It served as the centre of Deseronto’s entertainment scene until owner James Naylor passed away in 1922. In 1947 it found new life as the Deseronto Bayview Theatre, screening Hollywood films under the management of Stan Marek. In 1961 it closed its doors, sold its seats to the Lennox Theatre Guild, where they can now be found at the Lennox Community Theatre in Selby.
The building itself say empty for some 65 years. That was until Crerar came in.
“Basically from that time until last year when I bought it, it had gone from various ownerships but nothing ever really got done,” said Crerar. “It just deteriorated, and I had trouble actually buying the place. The last owners before me was the Deseronto Arts and Culture Society, and I tried for 10 years to buy it. The difficulty is that their structure required a quorum of members to make a big decision, like selling it or whatever, and they could never put that together. Just by luck, I found out two days before the tax sale happened that it was up for offer, and I bid to win it.”
That’s when the real work began, turning the old movie theatre into a live music venue.
The renovation process has been a long one. Photo by Ian Crerar.
“Some huge lucky breaks. One, the roof was okay,” said Crerar of the renovation process. “(Other sections of the building) required pretty extensive repairs, but the base of the building was solid. The foundation was kind of difficult. There were some repairs to do. The floor originally was a slanted theatre floor. At some point, I don’t know who it was, but I guess the roof was leaking so badly and it was filling up with water and it was undermining the foundation. One of the owners at one of those periods, could have been in the 70s or 80s, I don’t know, they filled the thing with dirt to mitigate any more damage happening.”
A musician in his own right, Crerar is a member of the band Fun Comes Fast. His love of music can be found in the early decor found along the walls of the hall with a collection of vintage guitars. High above the dance floor area is a replica WWI fighter plane, a nod to Deseronto’s Camp Rathbun Royal Flying Corps training field. Looking down at the stage is balcony seating, which will also pay homage to the building’s past. Once home to the projector during its movie theatre days, the upstair will be divided into three viewing areas called Naylor (in honour of the original owner), Projector (where the movies were projected from) and Rewind (where the reels were rewound). Included in the decor is a vintage Coca-a-Cola sign which was discovered hidden in the basement, miraculously spared from the many vandals who entered the abandoned building over the decades.
A present day look at the building’s exterior. Photo by Adam Prudhomme.
Now in its final stages of tune up, it will soon usher in a new chapter.
“We’re going to have country gigs, we’re going to have blues gigs, we’re going to have rock gigs,” said Crerar. “Those would be probably the main thrust of what I’m interested in bringing here. But if someone has an act that they want to do, bring to us, and if it’ll fill seats, we’ll have them.”
With the grand opening fast approaching, word has begun to spread on social media. The excitement of what it’ll mean for the area hasn’t gone unnoticed.
“A tremendous amount of moral support from both the local government and the community at large,” said Crerar. “Very happy because, to take on a project like this, if you have people against you, you might as well just give up because it’s a massive, massive undertaking. We’re doing it all on our own, we’re not getting it funded elsewhere. It’s all my retirement savings, basically.”
Tickets for the grand opening show, which will also serve as the 125th anniversary of the theatre, will soon go on sale. For the latest, visit UpperCanadaOperaHouse.ca.
The building is located at 377 Main St.