Welcome to the Historical Art Spaces Tour!

On this tour, you will be visiting 10 different historical buildings that have been repurposed into art or theatre spaces.

This tour starts in St. Catharines and then takes you through Niagara on the Lake, Niagara Falls, Fort Erie, and lastly Port Colborne.

This tour was designed so that you could break up the tour and only visit a couple locations in one trip. This is so that you can also appreciate the location and culture of the area to fully understand the places you are visiting.

Tour Route:

You will begin the tour at the Rodman Hall Art Centre - a contemporary art gallery located in a historic house near downtown St. Catharines.

The second stop of the tour is the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts - a Brock University campus that house four departments in the Faculty of Humanities. Though it is mostly an academic building, it is a pillar of the arts community in downtown St. Catharines.

The third stop is the Niagara Folk Arts Multicultural Centre - a not-for-profit charity organization that helps newcomers transition to life in Canada.

The fourth stop is the Courthouse Theatre - This theatre was where the Shaw Festival began performing in 1962. The building dates back to 1847 where it was a Court House for the counties of Lincoln, Welland, and Haldimand.

The fifth stop is the King Street Gallery - an art gallery that showcases Canadian artists that was built in 1791 and used as the seat of the first legislative assembly in Upper Canada.

The sixth stop is the Niagara Pumphouse Art Centre - a community not-for-profit charity organization that uses visual arts to enrich their community.

The seventh stop is the Riverbrink Art Museum - which offers a variety of exhibitions, educational programming, events and special projects.

The eighth stop is the Firehall Theatre - a non profit, community theatre organization run by volunteers and the Niagara Falls Music Theatre Society.

The ninth stop is the Sanctuary Centre for the Arts - which offers exceptional comedy shows, live theatre, and concerts.

The tenth stop is the Roselawn Centre - works in junction with the Showboat Festival Theatre to create a space for art to thrive.

The points of interest that we have chosen for our tour are important because of their historical significance as well as for their modern vibrancy.

The history of these places is interesting in its own right, but what makes these places unique is that when they could no longer be used for their intended purposes, they were repurposed into cultural and artistic spaces.

Rather than relying on the initial story of the building to keep it relevant to everyday people, the arts allow the buildings to come alive again by inviting the community back in to experience more stories and innovate.

Those who participate in this tour can expect to uncover stories about what the building used to be as well as experience how the community currently uses it to come together. Context is extremely important with our chosen points of interest because, though the unique architecture makes the building's significance clear, it's current purpose often overshadows the history of the place.