PSTOS - Fox Theatre, Victoria B.C.

Fox Theatre - 2/6 Kimball
Victoria, B.C.
2657 Quadra St.
Organ installation timeframe: 1962 - 1966

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The Fox Theatre opened in 1949. It was a steel Quonset-type structure with 450 seats.

1949. Image courtesy Royal BC Museum, public domain.

1949

Fox auditorium, 1949. Image courtesy Royal BC Museum, public domain.

Fox projection booth, 1949. Image courtesy Royal BC Museum, public domain.

Victoria Daily Times, February 1, 1949

Quadra Street, 1959. Image courtesy City of Victoria archives, public domain.

In 1962, a 2/6 Kimball organ was installed. This instrument was originally installed 1924 in the St. Helens Theatre in Chehalis, Washington (KPO opus #6748). The organ was sold in 1952 for $1,000 to Glenn White of Seattle who installed it in his parent's Seattle home in the Queen Anne neighborhood. In 1962 Mr. White sold the instrument to Canadian organist Reginald Stone who comissioned him to install it in Victoria's Fox Theater.

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Reginald Stone at the Fox Theatre Kimball, date unknown

News item from THEATRE ORGAN, Spring 1964. Reginald Stone accompanies a sing-a-long at the Fox Theatre Kimball.

Because it was a Quonset hut-type structure, the Fox Theatre did not have traditional organ chambers. It's likely the organ was installed on the stage area, behind the screen. In fact, in checking recent Google Maps views of the streets and alleys surrounding the theatre, a large "shed" can clearly be seen on the back of the theatre.

2018 Google Maps view of the theatre showing large "shed" installed off the back.


Reginald Stone made an LP of the Fox Theatre Kimball on the Aragon label.

In 1966 the organ was sold to Frank Mankin of Burnaby who installed it in his home studio.

Over the years, the theatre changed its name to Quadra in the 1960s and Roxy in the 1980s.

Roxy Theatre, 2010. Image courtesy Lotus Johnson

In 2013 the theatre was acquired by the Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre, presenting live productions of great theatre works of the past.