Emmanuel Briffa (1875-1955)

Born on the Island of Malta in 1875 and settling in Montréal in 1924, Emmanuel Briffa was an exceptional cinema decorator from the 1920s to 1955, a particularly dynamic period for Canadian movie theatre architecture. He created an exceptionally impressive body of work, undertaking about 60 movie theatre interiors that are notable for their artistic quality, their thematic range, and their originality.

With the arrival of full‑length feature films around 1915, cinemas gradually became specially designed rooms with theatre‑influenced architecture. These were the favourable conditions under which Briffa developed his art. After making his mark working in the United States from 1912, where he helped to decorate the famous Chicago Theatre, he quickly won the trust of the major distribution companies that controlled the Canadian film market during the early 1920s. He completed several projects in Quebec (primarily in Montréal) and New Brunswick. By 1927, working for Famous Players, he had expanded his business to include cinemas in Ontario and Western Canadian markets.

Having trained in fine arts at schools in Naples and Rome, Briffa’s designs reflected the popular stylistic trends of his era. As was the case with many European and American architects, his early work was largely influenced by the British architect Robert Adam (1728-1792), and exemplifies the elegance of the Neoclassical style. Later on, the competitive environment led him to create distinct, innovative and surprising interiors. In Canada, Briffa decorated Toronto’s Runnymede Theatre in 1927, an example of an atmospheric theatre, as the first Canadian cinema with a verdant ambiance inspired by the ancient gardens at the Alhambra in Grenada and the Tivoli near Rome. In the following years, Briffa’s originality of vision is evident in his variety of design styles, including the Egyptian interior he created for Montréal’s Empress Theatre (1928), the Art Deco style of the Outremont Cinema in Montréal (1929), the Capitol Theatre in Halifax (1930) – which is evocative of a medieval English castle – and the clean Moderne design of Montréal’s York Cinema (1938), with its streamlined motifs and stylized murals. In some of his theatres, he borrowed themes from local history. The painted murals in the Halifax auditorium, for example, were inspired by the province’s history, while the decorative concept for the Seneca Theatre in Niagara Falls reflects Iroquois culture. Emmanuel Briffa’s interiors are unique because of their originality and innovation.

Three movie theatres designated for their national historical significance testify to his versatility and talent. In Montréal, the Rialto Theatre (designated in 1993) has a very imaginative Baroque‑inspired interior, whereas the Outremont Cinema (designated in 1993) shows atmospheric and Art Deco influences. In Sherbrooke, Quebec, the Granada Theatre (designated in 1996) is one of four atmospheric theatres in Canada that still contains decorative features designed by Briffa in 1929.