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Hoyts Deluxe Picture Theatre Stores, 227-233 Little Bourke Street, Melbourne

Graeme Butler and Associates01/07/1989

Record details

Title:

Creator:

Graeme Butler and Associates

Date of work:

01/07/1989

Reference number:

BIF-CITY 101200

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:

Period: EdwardianDate: 1915Materials: BricksSigns: `Coles'ASSOCIATED RESEARCH ADDED BY GRAEME BUTLER:.GRAEME BUTLER 1989, LITTLE BOURKE STREET PRECINCT CONSERVATION STUDY see https://issuu.com/graemebutler21/docs/little_bourke_st_precinct_conservatHoyts DeLuxe Picture Theatre Stores227-233 Little Bourke StreetHistoryBuilt: 1915Once occupied by two-storey brick row houses and shops prior to 1914 this became the rear site of the Hoyts Deluxe Picture Theatre (later Hoyts Esquire), designed for the Porter Estate by renowned theatre architect, William Pitt. The site's main frontage was 236-244 Bourke Street, adjoining the renovated Theatre Royal (1902-), with these two warehouses at the rear. Clements Langford was the builder. 2Hoyts Pty. Ltd. were sole occupiers until at least the 1950s 3, the building initially housing Mason's Super Films, Fraser Films and the Hoyts Pty. Ltd. advertising department. 4 The 'publicity department' was still there in c1950. 5The De Luxe (later Esquire) opened April 1915, replacing St. George's Hall (a narrow hall used for variety shows since the 1870s) and Richards& Co.'s two-storey drapery store. 6 Arthur Russell, founder of Hoyts Pictures used the hall for his first Saturday night movie screenings, in 1908. When nearly complete the new theatre was claimed as ' ...A modern building...constructed in two sections, the front portion...as a warehouse, allowance being made for a wide approach to the main part of the building at the rear. This other section will constitute the picture hall.' It would house 2000 spectators and its ventilation system (housed in the basement) was among the best in the Commonwealth. 7 Table Talk described it, once again, as '...The most Palatial Picture Palace in the World. 8However, it was to be thoroughly renovated in 1934 to Taylor Soilleux and Overend's design and all but demolished in the last decade for the Coles Bourke Street store extension. These warehouses are the only near intact survivors from a theatre remembered by many (with the Majestic in Flinders Street, recently demolished) as the largest of the State's earliest cinemas, prior to the 1920s cinema boom period. 9DescriptionAlmost Modern in its severity, the elevation is in three bays, each divided into vertical window strips. At .the focus of the composition the centre bay had three vertical window strips, the other had two. Cement spandrels divide the three upper levels; the whole being capped with a plain cemented parapet entablature: Subtle details such as the pier cappings evoke the period and the interplay of brown and red face-brickwork (red as quoins) is also a subtle visual device. Remnants of a large wall sign are visible on the west side wall.External integrityShopfronts and canopy are new and intrusive to the building character. Possible closing-in of the side window strip on the central bay.StreetscapeRed brick and divided after the manner of the precinct's typical 19th century warehouses, the building concurs with the precinct character.SignificanceBuilt during the area's peak Chinese occupation and also representing the other historical factor in the area, that of entertainment, it also concurs with the area's built character.Contributes to precinct.GRAEME BUTLER 1989, LITTLE BOURKE STREET PRECINCT CONSERVATION STUDY see https://issuu.com/graemebutler21/docs/little_bourke_st_precinct_conservatReferences cited:1 Building Permit Application 5238. 16/10/19142 ibld.3 DI9504 DI9205 DI9506 Thorne:. P.135f7 ibid quotes the Argus 12/11//I48 Table Talk. 15/4/1915: drawings in La Trobe col9 see also Northcote Picture Theatre, 1914, and Footscray Grand

Names:

City of Melbourne

Topics:

Little Bourke Historic Precinct StudyConservation studies1910-1919BricksTheatres and cinemasRetail trade

Places:

Melbourne (Vic.)

Form/Genre:

Building Identification Forms (BIFs)

Record types:

Research and reports

Record number:

1189411