Robert Brockhouse’s new book, The Royal Alexandra Theatre: A Celebration of 100 Years, is as much a history of a famous building as it is an account of a century of Toronto’s cultural development. When Cawthra “the boy millionaire” Mulock opened his Royal Alexandra in 1907, Toronto had a population of less than half a million and was just the second largest city in Canada; Brockhouse’s meticulously research tells the story of how a city and its most famous stage grew up together. Throughout, the book is lavishly illustrated with archival photographs and candid shots. Its crowning glory, though, is a new commissioned photo essay by Edward Burtynsky, which captures the theatre in its stately glory and the backstage area in its charming squalor. Thanks to Mirvish Productions, McArthur & Company, and Edward Burtynsky, we’re pleased to present a few of these new photographs here.