The Royal George Theatre’s 111-year-old history is coming to an end: teardown of the theatre on Queen Street in Niagara-on-the-Lake began today following the dismissal of a legal challenge that put its demolition on hold for two months.
Crews were at the theatre Thursday afternoon tearing down the back end of the building before ending their work after a couple of hours. The rest of the building wasn’t demolished.
This comes after the Shaw Festival said on Thursday that the legal dispute between it, the Town of NOTL and Centurion Building Corporation, the company that launched a judicial review in February to investigate the town’s green-lighting of the demolition, is now over.
The filing of that judicial review — in which Centurion, led by president Nicholas Colaneri, alleged the town failed to follow the proper planning and heritage rules before signing off on the teardown of the old theatre — triggered a court-ordered pause on the theatre’s demolition, which was scheduled to begin at the end of March this year.
In late March, Ontario’s Divisional Court ruled that the Town of NOTL’s process to determine whether or not to approve the teardown of the old theatre — making way for a new, larger Shaw Festival theatre — was thorough and justified, dismissing the legal challenge.
In response, Centurion, led by president Nicholas Colaneri, immediately filed a motion asking the Court of Appeal to determine whether an appeal can proceed to reconsider the ruling the Divisional Court made.
Now, in a media release from Thursday, the Shaw’s executive director, Tim Jennings, said the Court of Appeal dismissed that request for an appeal, solidying the ruling that the Town of NOTL followed all the necessary steps and acted in the broader public interest before approving the demolition.
“While these proceedings have required extensive time and attention, and certainly caused us some delays, our focus has remained resolute,” Jennings said. “We now have clarity to move forward with renewed momentum.”
Both courts will require Centurion to pay back some of the Shaw’s and the Town of NOTL’s costs, he said, but did not specify how much. Back in March, the Divisional Court said in its ruling the Town of NOTL is entitled to $25,000 and the Shaw Festival to $30,000.
Jennings added that the Shaw has all the required site plan approvals and the demolition permit from the town and that the current demolition underway should be done by June.
With the theatre’s demolition delayed by two months following the legal challenge, it’s not clear if the Shaw Festival will meet its original goal of opening the new Royal George Theatre in fall 2028.
The Royal George Theatre has stood at its spot on Queen Street in Old Town since 1915. The Shaw Festival bought the venue in 1980. The theatre hosted its last productions in December 2025, and an open house event for the public to bid it farewell at the end of January, before closing its doors for good.
The Shaw already tore down two buildings it owns that will help to make way for its new theatre, set to be 38,000-square-feet above ground. It demolished two historic homes it owned on Victoria Street in February.
