Music

Toronto's Great Hall venue petitions against being turned into condos

by Mark Teo

Inhabitants of Toronto’s west end know that the Great Hall—the gorgeous, sprawling building located at Queen and Dovercourt—is one of the city’s best venues. And that’s because it’s chameleonic: Fucked Up’s beloved Long Winter turns its balconies and hallways into galleries while hosting three stages of music, performance art, video games, readings, and much more. Last year, NXNE turned its basement into a club and its restaurant into an intimate venue.

There’s plenty of reasons to love the Great Hall. For such an excellent space, though, it’s always felt a tad underused—and perhaps, it’s because they have a liquor licensed capacity of 303. It’s a shockingly low number for a multi-purpose venue that can handle quadruple that amount; as a venue, that capacity limits the scale of events the Great Hall can host.

But the Hall hopes to change that: They’ve launched a change.org petition proposing to bump their liquor licensed capacity to 1,553—which wouldn’t only open up the hall for bigger events, but would also allow it to generate more revenue. It, as the petition notes, is also an accessible hall in a city with few—along with Danforth, Massey, and Roy Thompson Halls.

Which, for the Hall, is important: Thanks to its location—nestled just east of Parkdale and smack dab on a strip of rapidly gentrifying Queen West—the land the Great Hall lives on is very, very valuable. For that reason, the Great Hall believes that if they can’t up their liquor licensed capacity, there’s the danger of the site turning into condos. It’s not a stretch: Across the street, the Ten93 Queen West condos are being built, while across from the nearby Drake Hotel, a condo village sprouted over the past few years.

It’s a reminder of the accuracy of artist Jesse Harris’s nearby mural, reminding West Queen West that:

As for the Great Hall, it not only wants to keep its location, but says it’s important to anchor Queen West’s culture—lest it turn into a vertical suburb.

If you’re so inclined, sign the petition here.