Cygnet Cinema is located at 16 Preston Street,

Como Como (, ; lmo, Còmm, label= Comasco , or ; lat, Novum Comum; rm, Com; french: Côme) is a city and ''comune'' in Lombardy, Italy. It is the administrative capital of the Province of Como. Its proximity to Lake Como and to the Alps h ...

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 th ...

. It was the first purpose built sound

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

in the suburbs immediately south of the city in the inter-war period. The Cygnet Cinema opened in 1938 and was built by local identity and film entrepreneur James Stiles. It is an excellent example of the art deco style of architect William Leighton and is included on the State's Heritage Register.

History

The Cygnet Theatre, built in 1938 for James Stiles of the Grand Theatre Company, was originally named the Como Theatre. Formerly a real estate agent, Stiles moved into the cinema industry to save one of his assets, Grand Theatre, which faced ruin in the wake of the stock market crash in 1929. With the boom in cheap entertainment, the Grand Theatre Company soon became a very successful company. In 1938, Stiles managed to secure a ten-year lease on

Piccadilly Theatre The Piccadilly Theatre is a West End theatre located at 16 Denman Street, behind Piccadilly Circus and adjacent to the Regent Palace Hotel, in the City of Westminster, London, England. Early years Built by Bertie Crewe and Edward A. Stone ...

, modernised his existing cinemas and built Como Theatre. In the late 1930s South Perth had developed as a desirable, respectable riverside suburb. Como Beach was a popular recreation area for families, and a ferry service to the city left from the Como jetty at the bottom end of Preston Street. The 1930s were also a boom period for entertainment. Attending the cinema was a popular pastime and an escape from the poverty of the Depression. A number of cinemas were built, not only in the city centres of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth i ...

or Fremantle, but also in the suburbs. The Cygnet Theatre was not the first cinema in the South Perth area. It was preceded by the picture shows held twice weekly at the Swan Street Hall (1922), the Gaiety Picture Theatre on the corner of Coode and Angelo Streets (1926) and the Hurlingham Picture Theatre on

Canning Highway Canning Highway is an arterial road in Perth, Western Australia, linking the inner Perth suburb of Victoria Park in the north-east, to the port city of Fremantle in the south-west. The road is mostly a four-lane divided carriageway, with a g ...

(1933). The Gaiety and Hurlingham were still in operation when the Como Theatre opened in 1938 as the most modern and up-to-date-cinema in the district, screening "

talkies A sound film is a motion picture with synchronized sound, or sound technologically coupled to image, as opposed to a silent film. The first known public exhibition of projected sound films took place in Paris in 1900, but decades passed before ...

" for the first time. The Como Theatre was officially opened on 4 March 1938, by the Chairman of the South Perth Road Board, G.V. Abjornson. It was designed by

William T. Leighton William Thomas Leighton (1905–1990) was a Western Australian architect, well known for his Australian architectural styles, Art Deco and Inter-War Functionalist style of civic, commercial and domestic buildings. Leighton was born in Fremantle ...

, the well known Inter-War architect, and built by W H Ralph and Sons. 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 m ...

, the

Windsor Theatre The 48th Street Theatre was a Broadway theatre at 157 West 48th Street in Manhattan. It was built by longtime Broadway producer William A. Brady and designed by architect William Albert Swasey. The venue was also called the Equity 48th Stree ...

in Nedlands, and the Astor Theatre in

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. He was also behind the refurbishment of the Royal Theatre and Grand Theatre. Como Theatre originally had both an indoor auditorium and an outdoor picture garden, which was serviced by one mechanised 'bio box'. The

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

and ferry services brought people from outside the area to the Cinema. The theatre was renamed the Cygnet Theatre in the 1960s to associate it with the

Festival of Perth Perth Festival, named Perth International Arts Festival (PIAF) between 2000 and 2017, and sometimes referred to as the Festival of Perth, is Australia's longest-running cultural festival, held annually in Western Australia. The program features ...

's black swan logo. Despite the name change, the original Broadway face type lettering stating ''The Como Theatre'' around the 'bio box' still exists. Although no longer a Festival of Perth venue, the Cygnet Cinema continues to successfully operate as a suburban cinema. The entrance and foyer of the cinema were rearranged in 1964, with the entry doors shifted west of the original entrance, and the original entrance area was converted into part of the confectionery counter. Air conditioning was installed in the cinema in October 1968 to combat the threat of

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

, but patronage continued to drop and the picture garden was demolished within a year. In 1981 alterations were made to the

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, community ...

, with the seats in the front stalls removed and the other seating realigned.

Architectural character

The theatre reflects the architectural style popular in the inter-war period, using nautical motifs such as wavy lines, smooth flat curves and tubular handrails, with an architectural emphasis on both the horizontal and vertical aspects of the building. The Cygnet Cinema is an example of the Inter-War Functionalist style. Characteristics of this style are the asymmetrical massing of smooth geometric elements, and emphasis on exterior form reflecting internal function. The prominent central tower housed the 'bio box', which serviced both the indoor auditorium and the outdoor picture garden. Film canisters were hauled up to the 'bio box' balcony from the street. The tower extends out in a fashionable streamlined curve and features a

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cant ...

balcony A balcony (from it, balcone, "scaffold") is a platform projecting from the wall of a building, supported by columns or console brackets, and enclosed with a balustrade, usually above the ground floor. Types The traditional Maltese balcony ...

with steel railings, resembling the form of a modern ocean liner. The 'liner' theme is reinforced by the three 'port hole' windows on the exterior of the building. The stylistic influence of Le Corbusier, a functional Modernist architect, is evident in these forms and detail. In the summer of 2013, American street artist Nils Westergard painted a portrait of Alfred Hitchcock on the western facing exterior wall of the building.

Current uses

In August 2004, the Heritage Council of Western Australia provided a $4,500 grant to prepare a conservation plan for the Cinema. The theatre is currently leased by independent operators from the owner, Colin Stiles, the son of the original owner, James Stiles.

Heritage value

The Cygnet Theatre was entered into the Register of the National Estate by the Australian Heritage Commission on 27 October 1998 and was classified by the National Trust (WA) on 2 May 1988. The building is also included on the City of South Perth's Municipal Inventory and was permanently listed on the State Register of Heritage Places on 30 June 1995.

References

External links