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The Astor Theatre is located at 659
Beaufort Street Beaufort Street is a major road in the inner north-eastern suburbs of Perth, Western Australia, connecting the Morley area to the Perth central business district. For most of its length, it is a single-carriageway, two-way road with two lanes ...
, Mount Lawley,
Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to t ...
. It comprises a single, two and three-storey masonry inter-war
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...
style theatre and retail building.


History

The building was originally known as the Lyceum Theatre and was designed by David McClure, and built by Simon Alexander, whose family owned the premises. The Alexander family also owned the Alexander Building on the south-west (opposite) corner of Beaufort and Walcott Streets. It was constructed in 1914/1915 in a Federation Free Classical architectural style and was designed for a mixture of vaudeville and lantern slide shows. By 1922, the Lyceum Theatre was advertising "motion pictures and popular orchestra". In the mid-1920s, with the development and popularity of silent movies, the Lyceum was converted to a cinema, and the name was changed from the Lyceum to the State Theatre. In 1939 the theatre was redesigned in an Art Deco style by William Leighton, and reconstructed by Simon Alexander's son John. In the late 1930s Leighton secured a reputation as a leading cinema designer for his work on several Perth cinemas, including the
Piccadilly Theatre and Arcade The Piccadilly Cinema Centre (formerly Piccadilly Theatre) and Piccadilly Arcade are located at 700-704 Hay Street, Perth, Western Australia. It is an art deco style cinema and shopping arcade, designed by architect William T. Leighton for ...
, the Windsor Theatre in Nedlands, and the
Cygnet Cinema Cygnet Cinema is located at 16 Preston Street, Como, Western Australia. It was the first purpose built sound cinema in the suburbs immediately south of the city in the inter-war period. The Cygnet Cinema opened in 1938 and was built by local id ...
in South Perth. He was also behind the refurbishment of the Royal Theatre and Grand Theatre. The remodelling of the State Theatre left it structurally intact but altered its appearance, "dispensing with the arches and pediments and imposing a simple restrained facade". The alterations included the entrance to the picture garden, and made provision for a grocery store on the corner, a millinery shop, and refreshments in the cinema vestibule. Leighton's
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...
design introduced the Mayan flower to the Theatre. The Art Deco theme runs from the Main Auditorium through the external facades to Beaufort and Walcott Streets. The remodelled State Theatre opened on 12 May 1939. The Astor Theatre received its current name in 1941 when an Act of Parliament decreed it an offence for a private business to use the name "State". Mr John Alexander's wife, Mavis, renamed the theatre The Astor in memory of a theatre of the same name in
New Farm New Farm is an inner northern riverside suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , New Farm had a population of 12,542 people. Geography The suburb is located 2 kilometres east of the Brisbane CBD on a large bend of the Br ...
,
Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Queensland, and the third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of approximately 2.6 million. Brisbane lies at the centre of the South ...
that was the first cinema they went to after their marriage. With the decline in cinema attendances in the 1950s and 1960s due to the introduction of television, the Astor Theatre became a shadow of its former self, eventually reduced to showing pornographic films. It was also used as a venue for a number of activities including amateur dramatic shows, a dancing studio and bingo. In December 1978, Astor Theatre was purchased by a group of Perth businessmen and families. In 1988 rumours grew that Astor Theatre was to be demolished, and Ron Regan, from Sydney, arranged a five-year lease of Astor Theatre through his company Entrevision Pty Ltd. In 1989, the 50th anniversary of its Art Deco redevelopment, the Theatre underwent an extensive refurbishment by Philip McAllister, Architect for Entrevision Cinemas Pty Ltd, who wished to return the cinema to its Art Deco glory and provide a quality film experience in a quality environment. The Astor Cinema was officially re-opened on 26 July 1989 by the mayor of the
City of Stirling The City of Stirling is a local government area in the northern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth about north of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of and has a population of over 223,000, making ...
, Cr. A. A. Spagnolo, prior to a screening of Australian director
Peter Weir Peter Lindsay Weir ( ; born August 21, 1944) is a retired Australian film director. He's known for directing films crossing various genres over forty years with films such as '' Picnic at Hanging Rock'' (1975), ''Gallipoli'' (1981), ''Witness ...
's film ''
Dead Poets Society ''Dead Poets Society'' is a 1989 American drama film directed by Peter Weir, written by Tom Schulman, and starring Robin Williams. Set in 1959 at the fictional elite conservative boarding school Welton Academy, it tells the story of an English ...
''.


21st century

Since its reopening, the Astor Theatre has undergone further refurbishment in November 2006, with the cinema facilities continuing to be upgraded. In August 2008, the owners announced that the cinema would close because it is no longer profitable, stating that "the cinema had been running at a loss for some time, with just $34 in takings in four hours of trading". A Music Rocks Australia concert (a kid rock band group of schools) was one of the last performances at the Astor. The theatre reopened in October 2009, and now hosts live music, comedy and other community events.


Heritage value

The Astor Theatre was classified by the National Trust (WA) on 1 August 1988. The building is also included on the City of Stirling Municipal Inventory. and was permanently listed on the State Register of Heritage Places on 14 May 1999.


References


Further reading

* ''A Pictorial Guide to Identifying Australian Architecture: Styles and Terms from 1788 to the Present'' Apperly, R., Irving, R. and Reynolds (1989) North Ryde, Angus and Robertson * ''Perth: A Cinema History'' Bell, M.D (1986) Sussex, Book Guild * ''Essays on Art and Architecture in Western Australia'' Geneve, V. " William Thomas Leighton: Cinema Architect of the 1930s" in Bromfield, D. (ed.) 1988, University of Western Australia Press, Nedlands * ''Mount Lawley: The first 150 years 1829-1979'' Hamilton, Margaret (1979) Mount Lawley Society


External links

*
Photo gallery
{{Authority control Art Deco architecture in Western Australia Beaufort Street, Perth Cinemas in Perth, Western Australia Former cinemas Music venues in Perth, Western Australia Mount Lawley, Western Australia Theatres in Perth, Western Australia State Register of Heritage Places in the City of Stirling Streamline Moderne architecture in Australia Theatres completed in 1915