The building selected has a fine history.  The York Cinema as it was called was built by Noah A. Timmins Jr. in the 1930's.  The project included stores on street level, apartments (named the Carlton originally, later changed to the Lancaster) above, and at the back, a movie theater.  It opened on 18 November 1938.
 

The building was designed by the Montreal Architecture firm of Luke, Little and Perry.  At the west end was the entrance to the York, marked by a huge, prow-of-a-ship-shaped, multi-bulbed, steel marquee.  It led in off the street, past a nifty round ticket booth, down a long hall decorated in a chevron motif, and into a spacious lobby with stripes on the walls and circular light fixtures.
 
 

The theater contained about 900 seats and was decorated in the Art Deco style.  The Montreal Star reported that  it was "a commodious and tastefully decorated auditorium".  The walls were covered, alternatively, with HeerWagen Tiles, murals, and plaster stripes that ran up to a recessed section in the central ceiling.

The Montreal Star praised the building saying it was "a most attractive theater in every respect," the Star concluded "From the 'front sign' which juts out over the pavement, to the stage itself, it eschews the garish in favor of good taste and sensible equipment."  Morley C. Lukes was praised for "this admirable building," and the decorator, Emmanuel Briffa, for the "subdued tones" of his decor.

There were eight tall, stylized murals in the theatre, with "depiction's of naked women with long blond hair frolicking with dolphins and winged seahorses in an Emily Carr-ish landscape.  The y are among the most remarkable features in any Montreal movie house, but the identity of their artist reamains a mystery."

The theater went through a few minor changes during it s life time.  The Large ship like marquee was changed for a more minimal square marquee, which remains today.  Around the same time in the fifties a candy counter was placed in the center of the lobby.  The land value rose dramatically in the 70's and the building and land was acquired by a Swiss development firm, Zermatt Investments.  However, it was a Montreal real estate company, Fisurban Properties, that announced in the 1980s, a grandiose plan to build a giant office tower on the site that incorporate the York and the Lancaster apartments.  The company proved unequal to the task, however, and after closing the theatre and clearing the stores and apartments, it abandoned the plan and sold the property to yet another development firm.  It is now owned by Concordia University and sits abandoned and deteriorating.