Henry Eli White (21 August 1876 – 3 March 1952), also known as Harry White, was a New Zealand-born architect who is best known for the many theatres and cinemas he designed in Australia and New Zealand in the 1910s and 1920s. Many of the major surviving historic venues in the two countries are White designs, including the
St. James Theatre, Wellington,
St. James Theatre, Auckland, the
Capitol Theatre and
State Theatre in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
, and the
Palais Theatre
The Palais Theatre (originally Palais Pictures) is a historic picture palace located in St Kilda, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. With a capacity of nearly 3,000 people, it is the largest seated theatre in Australia.
Repl ...
and the interiors of the
Princess Theatre and
Athenaeum Theatre in
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
. He also designed the
City Hall
In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...
and the attached
Civic Theatre in
Newcastle, New South Wales
Newcastle ( ; Awabakal: ) is a metropolitan area and the second most populated city in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It includes the Newcastle and Lake Macquarie local government areas, and is the hub of the Greater Newcastle area, w ...
.
Personal life
White was born on 21 August 1876 at Dunedin, New Zealand, son of English migrant parents Joseph Eli White and wife Susanna. Joseph Eli White established himself as a bricklayer then a builder and contractor, and by the 1900s he had built many major landmarks in Dunedin, and been elected Councillor and Mayor of the municipality of
North East Valley
North East Valley (sometimes spelt Northeast Valley, and often abbreviated to NEV) is a suburb of the New Zealand city of Dunedin.
Geography
North East Valley sits in the valley of the Lindsay Creek, a tributary of the Water of Leith and on t ...
.
Henry appears to have left school at an early age, and probably joined his father's contracting business then established his own business as a builder in 1896. He married Margaret Hallinan at Dunedin on 24 December 1900 and they had four children.
In 1903 he relocated himself and his family to Christchurch where he worked as builder and manufacturer of building supplies and equipment, and moved into engineering. He was the builder or contractor for the Royal Exchange building, and
The Press building,
both large projects on Cathedral Square (and both now demolished). In 1909 he won the contract for a major tunnel required as an upgrade of the Waipori River hydro-electric scheme,
the same year as his first theatre project.
More theatres quickly followed, and after gaining commissions in Australia, he opened an office in
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
by 1913, and soon moved his family there. He ran a very successful architectural practice though the 1910s and into the 1920s, designing numerous theatres and cinemas in both countries, as well as other commercial projects mainly in the Sydney area in the 1920s. By the late 1920s, he was able to maintain a flamboyant lifestyle with a large harbour-front house in the exclusive Sydney suburb of Point Piper, a yacht and a luxury car. At over tall, and weighing more than , he was known as 'Big Henry'.
His architectural career ended abruptly with the onset of the Depression, when new projects dried up completely. In 1930 he won a competition for a college to be built in Auckland, and soon moved there and closed the Sydney office, but it did not eventuate. His activities other than owning a farm near Hamilton NZ in the next few years are unknown. By 1935 he was back in Sydney at his (heavily mortgaged) Point Piper house, which became a reception centre managed by Claire Whitcombe from New Zealand, who supplanted his wife. Though replacing his car with an older one, he kept his yacht, sailing and winning races in 1936. He proposed a 9-storey block of flats for his houses' garden in 1937, but this was rejected by Woollahra Council.
In 1940 he started a new venture, opening a dolomite quarry at George's Plains, near Bathurst, but it closed in 1948 not having earned much, when he finally sold the Point Piper house and moved to a small flat at Kings Cross with Claire.
He died there aged 75 on 3 March 1952, survived by his estranged wife and two sons, and was cremated with Anglican rites. He had reputedly earned over £1 million in architectural fees in his heyday, but after 22 years with no architectural work, his probate was only valued at £1147.
Architectural practice
![State Theatre Sydney](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/42/State_Theatre_Sydney.jpg)
In 1909, having established himself as a builder of large projects, and then as an engineer in Christchurch, White's career as an architectural designer began with a commission to improve the Princess Theatre in his home town of Dunedin by
John Fuller & Sons theatrical management company. Using his engineering skills he replaced the six posts that supported the balcony along the front that blocked views (up until then a common practice) with three steel posts set back from the front in late 1909. The next year he performed the same 'trick' at the Auckland Opera House.
The year after that he was employed to completely remodel the Theatre Royal,
Timaru
Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...
, which involved inserting a whole new auditorium, with a balcony supported on only three posts set well back. This was his first foray into architecture as an art, designing the decoration of the interior in gilt
Rococo
Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...
plasterwork, typical for theatres at the time.
He followed this with His Majesty's, Blenheim (dem), the next year, his first complete building; the auditorium repeated many of the features he used in Timaru.
Then in 1911 came his first commission for a large theatre, His Majesty's (now
St James), Wellington, again for Fuller's, opening in 1912, for which he relocated his practice to that city. In 1913 he gave an interview outlining his particular interest in the design of theatres, especially concerned with sightlines, and also claimed to have already built or rebuilt nearly 10 theatres in New Zealand, This is probably an exaggeration, but many more theatres and 'picture theatres' (early ones also had stages suitable for live performances) soon followed both in New Zealand and in Australia, with seven in 1916 alone, many for Fullers. The 1910s was something of a high point for theatre construction, with increasing leisure time and just before cinema boomed in popularity, especially in New Zealand where even quite small towns had at least one live theatre.
With the death in 1918 of
William Pitt, who had been the premier theatre architect in Australasia from the late 1890s, Henry Eli White became the premier theatre designer in Australia and New Zealand. He not only designed entirely new theatres, but theatre design often involved the creation of new or renovated auditoriums in existing theatres, of which he did three in Melbourne and at least three in Sydney, as well as various minor alterations.
The architectural styles White used were generally typical for their eras. His early theatres had restrained classical or Edwardian Baroque exteriors, and Rococo or
Louis XV
Louis XV (15 February 1710 – 10 May 1774), known as Louis the Beloved (french: le Bien-Aimé), was King of France from 1 September 1715 until his death in 1774. He succeeded his great-grandfather Louis XIV at the age of five. Until he reache ...
interiors with lush plaster decoration and gilded highlights. Elements were often repeated in different designs in different cities, such as the tiers of paired side boxes, with columns and caryatids, seen at His Majesty's, Wellington and the Grand Opera House/Adelphi in Sydney (dem). Some of his earlier designs had Spanish / Mediterranean style exteriors, notably the 1913 Tivoli in Brisbane, and four smaller theatres now all demolished (Everybody's, Gisborne, The Cosy, Masterton, the Grand, Petone, and the Majestic, Brisbane).
Art Nouveau also made an appearance, notably the Secession inspired exterior of the Strand, Christchurch (dem), and the interior of the Hawkes Bay Opera House (which has a Spanish exterior). From the early 1920s, his theatre designs generally adopted a refined
Adam style
The Adam style (or Adamesque and "Style of the Brothers Adam") is an 18th-century neoclassical style of interior design and architecture, as practised by Scottish architect William Adam and his sons, of whom Robert (1728–1792) and James (173 ...
, seen at the Princess Theatre and the Athenaeum, both in Melbourne. He was the chief architect for the firm of
Birch
A birch is a thin-leaved deciduous hardwood tree of the genus ''Betula'' (), in the family Betulaceae, which also includes alders, hazels, and hornbeams. It is closely related to the beech-oak family Fagaceae. The genus ''Betula'' contains 30 ...
, Carroll and Coyle who established the Wintergarden theatre circuit, especially prominent in rural Queensland, with White designed theatres built in the later 1920s in Townsville, Rockhampton and Ipswich, as well as one in Rose Bay, Sydney (all now demolished). While Townsville was Spanish in style the others had restrained Neoclassical auditoriums, with Ipswich and Rockhampton featuring large relatively plain brick facades. His designs for the later 1920s St James, Auckland and the Civic Theatre Newcastle have an elaborate Spanish flavour, with elements seen in his 1920s cinema designs, and are versions of each other.
He also designed a number of cinemas throughout his career, which often included staging facilities for intermission shows, and were usually known as theatres. Though there were other more prolific designers in this field, he is known for designing major picture palaces in Sydney and Melbourne, all of which still exist. His largest cinema commission, and still the largest in Australia with nearly 3000 seats, was the eclectically-styled
Palais Theatre
The Palais Theatre (originally Palais Pictures) is a historic picture palace located in St Kilda, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. With a capacity of nearly 3,000 people, it is the largest seated theatre in Australia.
Repl ...
in the bayside suburb of St Kilda, Melbourne, built in 1927. In Sydney, he was the architect for the interior remodelling that produced the
Capitol Theatre at the Haymarket in 1928, though the 'atmospheric' Florentine Garden interior is largely credited to US architect
John Eberson
John Adolph Emil Eberson (January 2, 1875 – March 5, 1954) was an Austrian-American architect best known for the development and promotion of movie palace designs in the atmospheric theatre style. He designed over 500 theatres in his lifetime, ea ...
, who is also noted as 'co-designer' with White for the other surviving Picture Palace in Sydney, the 1929 'Louis XIV' style
State Theatre. The palatial State, with its lavish use of marble, gold and ivory decoration, paintings and sculpture, is the most elaborate design associated with White. The street foyer is an elaborate Gothic fantasy with a gilded fan-vaulted ceiling, the lobby a grand domed classical room with Baroque curved stairs, and the auditorium features rococo detailing, multiple crystal chandeliers and a coffered domed ceiling. Even the 'retiring rooms' are elaborate, ranging from the clubby 'Pioneer Room', to the delicately painted 'Butterfly Room', and the angular 'Futurist Room'.
He also designed a number of other buildings through the 1920s in a variety of styles. The six-storey Midland Hotel (1925, demolished) in Wellington was Spanish style, the State Shopping Block above the State Theatre was 1920s Commercial Gothic, matching the style of the street foyer, while the offices above St James' were Neoclassical. The three ‘chambers’ buildings in Sydney were all different, with Hengrove Hall adopting an elaborate Tudor style (based on the English original), Stanton House in a restrained vertical Art Deco style, and Chalfont in a more decorative rectilinear Jazz Moderne. The design for the massive
Bunnerong Power Station
Bunnerong Power Station was a coal-fired power station in the south-eastern Sydney suburb of Matraville, New South Wales, Australia that was decommissioned by 1975 and subsequently demolished. When the last generating units were commissioned, ...
was a bold Stripped Classical style with a large cornice (though the built version was much simplified), and the Newcastle City Hall is an outstanding example of the Inter-War Academic Classical, executed in sandstone.
White is said to have “...designed over 130 theatres.", but this number is certainly an exaggeration since nowhere near this many (live) theatres existed in the 1910s and 20s in all the cities and towns of Australasia. It seems that White was prone to exaggeration and self-aggrandisement, as theatre historian Ross Thorne discusses in his 2015 book ''The Self Styled Golden King'', a title that White apparently gave himself.
Thorne's research has found about 40 theatres and cinemas altogether, of which the majority have been demolished or completely altered. He also suggests that White may not have been the principal designer for all the works his office produced, but may have come from his staff, for instance the Spanish style was mainly used in 1914–15 during the tenure of office manager architect Lewis Kaberry, who went on to design many theatres later as Kaberry & Chard (for instance the Spanish style New Malvern in Melbourne in 1921). As well as the two major cinemas that were essentially Eberson designs (but whose involvement was downplayed at the time), the State and Capitol in Sydney, his major projects in the late 1920s were certainly overseen by his staff rather than White, and may have been designed by them as well. Eric Heath, who left in mid-1928, went on to design the elaborate Spanish style
Plaza Theatre, and
George Newton Kenworthy, who left in 1929, went on to design a number of theatres and cinemas in the 1930s, notably the
Cremorne Orpheum.
Thorne suggests that the loss of these capable employees, coupled with his frequent absences (on his yacht and overseas), contributed to the complete collapse of his practice when the depression hit in 1930.
List of works
Theatres
* 1911 Theatre Royal, 118–122 Stafford Street,
Timaru
Timaru (; mi, Te Tihi-o-Maru) is a port city in the southern Canterbury Region of New Zealand, located southwest of Christchurch and about northeast of Dunedin on the eastern Pacific coast of the South Island. The Timaru urban area is home to ...
, New Zealand (new auditorium and backstage).
* 1912 His Majesty's, High Street,
Blenheim, New Zealand
Blenheim ( ; mi, Waiharakeke) is the most populous town in the regions of New Zealand, region of Marlborough Region, Marlborough, in the north east of the South Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of The surrounding Marlborough ...
(demolished 1970s)
* 1912
St. James Theatre, 77–87 Courtenay Place, Wellington, New Zealand.
* 1912 His Majesty's (later the Majestic), Victoria Avenue,
Wanganui
Whanganui (; ), also spelled Wanganui, is a city in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand. The city is located on the west coast of the North Island at the mouth of the Whanganui River, New Zealand's longest navigable waterway. Whangan ...
, New Zealand (demolished 1970s now Majestic Square).
* 1915 Tivoli Theatre and Roof Garden, Albert Street (now King George Square), Brisbane, Queensland (interior rebuilt 1927, building demolished 1965).
* 1915 Hastings Municipal Theatre (now Hawke's Bay Opera House), 106 Hastings Street,
Hastings
Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England,
east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...
, New Zealand.
* 1916
Palace Theatre, 30 Bourke Street, Melbourne (new auditorium and lobbies for the 1912 Brennan's Amphitheatre). White redecorated and altered the boxes in 1923. Proscenium removed 1955, converted to nightclub 1980s, all decoration removed 2016.
* 1916 Everybody's Theatre,
Gisborne, New Zealand (demolished).
* 1916 Grand Opera House (renamed
Tivoli Theatre 1932), 329 Castlereagh Street, Sydney (interior rebuild of the Adelphi, demolished 1969).
* 1917 Majestic (renamed Elizabethan Theatre 1955), 1 Erskineville Road, Newtown, Sydney (destroyed by fire 1980).
* 1919 National (Amphi-)Theatre/ Fullers, 73 Castlereagh Street, Sydney (interior rebuild of National Amphitheatre, rebuilt Art Deco style 1934 and renamed Mayfair Theatre, demolished 1984).
* 1921 Theatre Royal, 100 King Street, Sydney (interior rebuild, demolished 1972).
* 1922
Princess Theatre, 163 Spring Street, Melbourne (new auditorium and rearranged lobbies).
* 1924 Athenaeum Theatre,
Melbourne Athenaeum
The Athenaeum or Melbourne Athenaeum is an art and cultural hub in the Melbourne city centre, central business district of Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1839, it is the city's oldest cultural institution.
It ...
, 188 Collins Street, Melbourne (construction of theatre within existing hall).
* 1925 Wintergarden, East Street, Ipswich, Queensland (demolished 1979).
* 1925 Wintergarden, Alma Street, Rockhampton, Queensland (closed 1974, auditorium demolished c2005, rest demolished 2013).
* 1926 St James Theatre, Elizabeth Street, Sydney (demolished 1971).
* 1927 Star Theatre, Bronte Road, Bondi Junction, Sydney (demolished 1981)
* Theatre Royal, Main Street,
Lithgow, NSW (extensive reconstruction) Became nightclub in 1991, building for sale in 2019.
* 1927 Wintergarden, Sturt Street, Townsville, Queensland (demolished 1991).
* 1928 Wintergarden, 622 New South Head Road, Rose Bay, Sydney (demolished 1987).
* 1928
St. James Theatre, Auckland (originally His Majesty's), 314 Queen Street, Auckland (closed since 2007).
* 1929
Newcastle Civic Theatre
The Newcastle Civic Theatre, also known as ''The Civic'', is a heritage-listed building located on Hunter Street, Newcastle, Australia. Opened in 1929, the 1520-seat theatre is now the venue for a wide range of musicals, plays, concerts and danc ...
, 375 Hunter St, Newcastle, NSW.
Cinemas
* 1913 Alhambra (later Tivoli), 11
Karangahape Road
Karangahape Road (commonly known as K' Road) is one of the main streets in the central business district (CBD) of Auckland, New Zealand. The massive expansion of motorways through the nearby inner city area – and subsequent flight of resident ...
, Auckland (demolished c1980).
* 1915 Majestic Theatre (later Odeon), Queen Street, Brisbane (demolished 1981).
* 1916 The Strand (later Mayfair, then Cinerama), Queen Street, Auckland (demolished 1984).
* 1916 Everybody's Theatre, Hastings Street, Napier, New Zealand (destroyed in 1931 earthquake).
* 1916 The Cosy, Queen Street,
Masterton
Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a r ...
, New Zealand (demolished 1988).
* 1916 Grand Theatre, 250 Jackson Street,
Petone
Petone (Māori: ''Pito-one''), a large suburb of Lower Hutt, Wellington, stands at the southern end of the Hutt Valley, on the northern shore of Wellington Harbour. The Māori name means "end of the sand beach".
Europeans first settled in Pe ...
, New Zealand (remodelled 1930s, now apartments)
* 1917 Strand Theatre (later the Plaza), Cathedral Square, Christchurch, New Zealand (demolished)
* 1922 Regent Theatre, 124 Little Malop Street, Geelong (only very altered exterior survives).
* 1927
Palais Theatre
The Palais Theatre (originally Palais Pictures) is a historic picture palace located in St Kilda, an inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. With a capacity of nearly 3,000 people, it is the largest seated theatre in Australia.
Repl ...
, Lower Esplanade,
St Kilda, Melbourne.
* 1927
Capitol Theatre, Campbell Street, Haymarket,
Sydney
Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...
(interiors only, designed with US theatre architect
John Eberson
John Adolph Emil Eberson (January 2, 1875 – March 5, 1954) was an Austrian-American architect best known for the development and promotion of movie palace designs in the atmospheric theatre style. He designed over 500 theatres in his lifetime, ea ...
).
* 1929
State Theatre (designed with US theatre architect
John Eberson
John Adolph Emil Eberson (January 2, 1875 – March 5, 1954) was an Austrian-American architect best known for the development and promotion of movie palace designs in the atmospheric theatre style. He designed over 500 theatres in his lifetime, ea ...
, and includes the attached high rise State Shopping Block, now offices), 49 Market St, Sydney.
Other designs
* 1913 Wonderland Amusement Park,
Dominion Exhibition
The Dominion Exhibition was an exhibition held annually in Canada from 1879 to 1913. Every year the federal government awarded the role of host of the exhibition to one of the country's larger fairs.
The first exhibition was held in Ottawa in ...
, Auckland (demolished).
* 1925 Midland Hotel, 151 Lambton Quay, Wellington, New Zealand (demolished 1980s).
* 1925–29 Bunnerong 'A',
Bunnerong Power Station
Bunnerong Power Station was a coal-fired power station in the south-eastern Sydney suburb of Matraville, New South Wales, Australia that was decommissioned by 1975 and subsequently demolished. When the last generating units were commissioned, ...
,
Matraville, NSW (demolished 1987).
* 1926, Law Court Chambers, 191 Queen Street, Melbourne (demolished)
* 1926 Fox Film Corporation Film Store, Goulbourne Street, Sydney (demolished)
* 1929 State Shopping Block attached to the
State Theatre, 49 Market St, Sydney.
* 1929
Newcastle City Hall
The Newcastle City Hall (currently known as O2 City Hall Newcastle for sponsorship reasons) is a concert hall located in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It has hosted many popular music and classical artists throughout the years, as well as stan ...
, 290 King St, Newcastle, NSW.
* 1929
St Ignatius College (east wing), Riverview, Lane Cove, Sydney.
* 1929 Hengrove Hall (medical suites), 193 Macquarie Street, Sydney.
* 1929 Stanton House offices, Pitt Street, Sydney (demolished)
* 1930 Chalfont Chambers, 142-44 Phillip Street, Sydney (demolished)
* 1930 St James Building office block, above the lobby of the earlier St James Theatre, Elizabeth Street, Sydney (demolished 1971).
Gallery
File:St James Theatre (31625592592).jpg, ''St James Theatre, Wellington, 1912''
File:Alhambra Karangahape Road.jpg, ''1913 Alhambra Karangahape Road Auckland as Tivoli in the 1930s''
File:Tivoli Theatre Brisbane.jpg, ''Tivoli Theatre, Brisbane, 1915''
File:Strand later Plaza Christchurch.jpg, ''Stand (later Plaza), Christchurch (rear facade), 1917''
File:St James Theatre, Sydney.jpg, ''St James Theatre, Sydney, 1926''
File:Heart of St Kilda audience at the Palais Theatre, Melbourne, Australia 2011.jpg, ''Palais Theatre, St Kilda, 1927''
File:Palais Theatre St Kilda 1927 box.jpg, ''Palais Theatre StKilda 1927 - box''
File:1928 St James Theatre Auckland Library.jpg, ''St James Auckland opening brochure 1928''
File:Atrium of State Theatre IMG 4687a.jpg, ''State Theatre, Sydney, 1928, lobby''
File:1883 - Newcastle City Hall and Civic Theatre (5060931b2).jpg, ''Civic Theatre, Newcastle, 1929''
File:Midland Hotel Wellington, 1925.jpg, ''Midland Hotel, Wellington, 1925''
File:1883 - Newcastle City Hall and Civic Theatre (5055746b1).jpg, ''Newcastle City Hall, 1929''
Further reading
*Ross Thorne, ''The Self Styled Golden King'', 2015, People & Physical Environment Research, Palm Beach NSW
*Julian Thomas,
Henry White(1876–1952), ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'', 1990
Henry E. White collection of architectural plans(468), State Library of NSW, MANUSCRIPTS, ORAL HISTORY AND PICTURES CATALOGUE
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:White, Henry
1876 births
1952 deaths
Architects from Dunedin
20th-century New Zealand architects
Architects from Sydney