Palace Theatre, later Apollo Theatre, St James, New Metro, 20-30 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Butler, Graeme1985
Archives
Total copies: 1
Title:
Palace Theatre, later Apollo Theatre, St James, New Metro, 20-30 Bourke Street, Melbourne
Creator:
Date of work:
1985
Reference number:
BIF-CITY 101233
Level of description:
Item from Collection: Heritage Collection (HC)
Type of materials:
Graphic materialsTextual material
Part of:
Series: Central City (BIF-CITY)
Access restrictions:
UnrestrictedOpen access.
Use restrictions:
UnrestrictedPlease contact City of Melbourne Libraries about obtaining permission to reproduce images.
General notes:
DATE: 1912,1916, 1923, 1934, 1940, 1952, 1986-7; etcASSOCIATIONS: Brennan's Amphitheatres Ltd.; Hugh J Ward Theatres P/L etc;DESIGNER: Eaton & Bates, associated with Nahum Barnet; Henry E White 1916; White & Gurney 1923; D F Cowell Ham; H Vivian Taylor; Peter L Brown & Associates P/L etc;BUILDER: Pollard Bros 1940 etc___________________________Graeme Butler & Associates 2014. Palace Theatre, Bourke street, Melbourne: revised heritage assessment for the City of Melbourne December 2014___________________________Statement of Significance 2014What is significant?Contributory elements at the Palace Theatre include:all existing external fabric from the 1912, 1916 and 1923 works as the primary significant period, described in the Building Permit Application drawings, including theatre and remnant Edwardian-era hotel fabric;three-level brick building with pitched originally corrugated iron clad roofthe rendered Moderne style 1952 upper level facade with 1923 wrought-iron balconette rail;the form of the cantilever 1950s canopy in Bourke Street;Dressing room block at the rear of the stage, with emphasis on 1920s external fabric.How is it significant?The Palace Theatre is historically, and socially significant and of architectural interest to the City of Melbourne.Why is it significant?For its historical significanceThe Palace Theatre (also Apollo, St James and Metro) has historical significance to the City of Melbourne, specifically the Central Business District and Bourke Street east precinct:As a now rare survivor of a former live theatre in the Bourke Street East theatre precinct, an area that was once the focus of Melbourne’s theatre and later cinema life. Built principally for use as a live theatre, the Palace is now the oldest of its type in the Melbourne CBD and provides evidence of traditional live theatre auditorium form, with its two semi-circular galleries (Dress Circle and the Upper Circle), fly tower and dressing room wing. Over the years it has entertained several generations of Melburnians with an eclectic range of entertainment—from grand opera to rock opera, via farce, magic, pantomime and plays.As the setting for some significant performers and performances on the Melbourne Stage. Some of the players include (in alphabetical order) David Atkins, Florence Austral, Gus Bluett, Nellie Bramley, Coral Browne, Dorothy Brunton, John Diedrich, Peter Finch, Sir Seymour Hicks, Marcia Hines, Kate Howarde, Reg Livermore, Charles Norman, Carrie Moore, Queenie Paul, Ada Reeve, Roy Rene ‘Mo’, Ella Shields, Terry- Thomas, George Wallace, Allan Wilkie and Strella Wilson among many others. Notable productions include the controversial plays Children in Uniform (1934) and Bury the Dead (1938), the famous Fuller Grand Opera Season (1934), Jack O’Hagan’s Australian musical Flame of Desire (1935), and the rock musicals Hair (1971) and Grease (1972);For the gala occasions under MGM including the Night of Stars staged on 2 October 1959 by Stuart Wagstaff to raise funds to support Anne Hathaway, J.C. Williamson Theatres’ entrant in the ‘Miss Show Business of 1959’ contest. Artists in the first half of the program included Evie Hayes, Will Mahoney, Graham Kennedy (Star of the Year Award 1959), Joff Ellen, Toni Lamond, Frank Sheldon, the Horrie Dargie Quintet, Robin Bailey and Richard Walker. VTT member Robert Foster was one of the dancers, and another VTT member, Ronald Folkard, was on the stage management team…as the venue (St James and later the Metro) for many long running motion pictures that dominated Melbourne's post second War social life as a major release house, screening Gigi, Ben Hur, Mary Poppins and Doctor Zhivago, Gigi and Gone wit the Wind.For its historical associationsFor the building's association with some major theatrical figures in Australia:with managements and lessees including Sir Ben Fuller, Stanley McKay, Harry M. Miller, Gladys Moncrieff, the National Theatre Movement, Frank Neil, New Theatre, Ernest C. Rolls, F.W.Thring and Hugh J. Ward. And Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), which ran the theatre as a cinema from December 1940 to 1971, first as the St James and then as the Metro Bourke Street. These people are among the foremost theatrical entrepreneurs in Australian Theatre history, with particular emphasis on the overriding guidance of the Fuller family, specifically Sir Benjamin Fuller who was knighted in 1921 and helped found ABC radio in 1929 with this theatre as one of its early performance venues in 1934.For its close link with the highly significant Princess Theatre on the adjoining rear block, which shared the same interior designer (White), management and ownership (Ben Fuller, Fuller Brothers), and a simular performance program, with performers exchanging roles in the two theatres between shows.The Palace site has of historical interestfor the continuing use of the site as a place of entertainment since the 1850s, in two buildings: the Excelsior Hotel which occupied the site from 1858-1911, and the hotel parts in the present building dating from 1912.For its architectural or aesthetic interestThe Palace Cinema is of architectural interest to the City of Melbourne as a well-preserved post Second War cinema façade that was created immediately building restrictions were relaxed in Melbourne in the early 1950s.Architecturally, the building retains:The Moderne style façade street façade, well-preserved above verandah level and the work of a well known theatre and cinema architect, H Vivian Taylor, executed in a corporate Metro style for North American firm, Metro Goldwyn Mayer.The building is principally the work of two well known and acclaimed Australian theatre architects, White and Taylor while the building carcase was designed by another earlier theatre specialist. Nahum Barnet.For its Social significanceThe Palace Theatre is socially significant to Metropolitan Melbourne as an important place of popular entertainment in Melbourne since 1912. In the late 20th and early 21st century it has been one of Melbourne most important music and theatre venues. This has been demonstrated since the 1980s by the public reaction to the threats of demolition of the building over time, with recent ‘Save the Palace’ movement including multiple web entries, a protest rally outside Parliament House on 12 October 2013 and an online petition of over 25,000 ‘signatures’. Beyond conservation campaigns, the Palace has been remembered by writers and critics as they look back on theatre history in Australia.___________________________GRAEME BUTLER 1985 MELBOURNE CENTRAL ACTIVITIES DISTRICT CONSERVATION STUDYBUILDING IDENTIFICATION FORM
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Research and reports
Record number:
1190703
| Type | Reference No. | Extent | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| Original | 101233 | 1 PDF : 2,155 KB ; A4 | Group of Items (May not be issued, may not be reproduced) |