The Regent Theatre was a heritage-listed cinema and entertainment venue in George Street,

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 Mounta ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia, built in 1928 as a flagship for

Hoyts The Hoyts Group of companies in Australia and New Zealand includes Hoyts Cinemas and Val Morgan. Hoyts operates more than 450 cinema screens and 55,000 seats, making it Australia's second largest movie exhibitor after Event Hospita ...

, and was demolished in 1988 by property developer Leon Fink.

Description and history

The Regent Theatre was

' showcase "picture palace" in Sydney, designed by architect Cedric Ballantyne and built by James Porter & Sons. The 2,297-seat Regent Theatre opened its doors in the heart of the city's entertainment district on 30 March 1928 with ''

Flesh and the Devil ''Flesh and the Devil'' is an American silent romantic drama film released in 1927 by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and stars Greta Garbo, John Gilbert, Lars Hanson, and Barbara Kent, directed by Clarence Brown, and based on the novel ''The Undying ...

'', starring Greta Garbo & John Gilbert. The Regent Theatre had a resident 40 piece orchestra, as well as a Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ. The theatre was located at 487-503 George Street, Sydney, near the

Sydney Town Hall The Sydney Town Hall is a late 19th-century heritage-listed town hall building in the city of Sydney, the capital city of New South Wales, Australia, housing the chambers of the Lord Mayor of Sydney, council offices, and venues for meetings an ...

. It stood next door to the famed Sydney Trocadero dance hall, which was demolished in 1971. The Regent operated as a cinema for most of its life, including the premiere Sydney season of

Ken Russell Henry Kenneth Alfred Russell (3 July 1927 – 27 November 2011) was a British film director, known for his pioneering work in television and film and for his flamboyant and controversial style. His films in the main were liberal adaptation ...

's film version of '' Tommy'' in 1975 (presented in "Quintaphonic" sound), but from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s it was also a popular venue for music concerts and stage shows, and in its final years hosted many large-scale musicals and performances by the

Australian Opera Opera Australia is the principal opera company in Australia. Based in Sydney, its performance season at the Sydney Opera House accompanied by the Opera Australia Orchestra runs for approximately eight months of the year, with the remainder of ...

and Australian Ballet and other theatrical and musical performances, including

Marcel Marceau Marcel Marceau (; born Marcel Mangel; 22 March 1923 – 22 September 2007) was a French actor and mime artist most famous for his stage persona, "Bip the Clown". He referred to mime as the "art of silence", and he performed professionally worldw ...

Debbie Reynolds Mary Frances "Debbie" Reynolds (April 1, 1932 – December 28, 2016) was an American actress, singer, and businesswoman. Her career spanned almost 70 years. She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portra ...

Barry Humphries John Barry Humphries (born 17 February 1934) is an Australian comedian, actor, author and satirist. He is best known for writing and playing his on-stage and television alter egos Dame Edna Everage and Sir Les Patterson. He is also a film pr ...

, the musical ''

Barnum Phineas Taylor Barnum (; July 5, 1810 – April 7, 1891) was an American showman, businessman, and politician, remembered for promoting celebrated hoaxes and founding the Barnum & Bailey Circus (1871–2017) with James Anthony Bailey. He wa ...

'',

Liza Minnelli Liza May Minnelli ( ; born March 12, 1946) is an American actress, singer, dancer, and choreographer. Known for her commanding stage presence and powerful alto singing voice, Minnelli is among a rare group of performers awarded an Emmy, Grammy ...

, The

Dance Theatre of Harlem Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) is an American professional ballet company and school based in Harlem, New York City. It was founded in 1969 under the directorship of Arthur Mitchell and later partnered with Karel Shook. Milton Rosenstock served ...

Tangerine Dream Tangerine Dream is a German electronic music band founded in 1967 by Edgar Froese. The group has seen many personnel changes over the years, with Froese having been the only constant member until his death in January 2015. The best-known lineup ...

, and "The Two Ronnies" (

Ronnie Barker Ronald William George Barker (25 September 1929 – 3 October 2005) was an English actor, comedian and writer. He was known for roles in British comedy television series such as ''Porridge'', ''The Two Ronnies'', and '' Open All Hours''. ...

Ronnie Corbett Ronald Balfour Corbett (4 December 1930 – 31 March 2016) was a Scottish actor, broadcaster, comedian and writer. He had a long association with Ronnie Barker in the BBC television comedy sketch show ''The Two Ronnies''. He achieved promine ...

Closure and demolition

The theatre closed with a screening of the documentary ''Ski Time'' on 26 May 1984. The last live performance was by American musician Ellen McIlwaine on 19 May 1984. In 1974, the trade union

Actor's Equity The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a book ...

asked the

Builders Labourers Federation The Builders Labourers Federation (BLF) was an Australian trade union that existed from 1911 until 1972, and from 1976 until 1986, when it was permanently deregistered in various Australian states by the federal Hawke Labor government and some ...

to place a

green ban A green ban is a form of strike action, usually taken by a trade union or other organised labour group, which is conducted for environmentalist or conservationist purposes. They were mainly done in Australia in the 1970s, led by the Builders La ...

to prevent demolition of the theatre. In the late 1970s many meetings of the Australian Broadcasting Commission Staff Association were held there at very reasonable rates, the owner being sympathetic to the trade union. Demolition commenced in late 1988 after a court decision upheld the lifting of the permanent conservation order by the Minister for Planning and Local Government,

David Hay David Hay (born 29 January 1948) is a Scottish former football player and manager. He broke into the Celtic team in the late 1960s, as one of a generation of players who continued a highly successful era for the club. A contract dispute between ...

. The slump in the Sydney property market that followed meant that the site remained a vast hole in the ground until 2004, when work finally began on a new high-rise building complex. Many of the theatre's fittings were sold at an auction in 1990, and can be found in a number of locations around Sydney and NSW. A lightweight plastic replica of the

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 ...

crystal chandelier from the Regent's foyer now hangs in the foyer of the nearby

The Metro Theatre The Metro Theatre (commonly the Metro) is a music venue located on George Street, in the city centre of Sydney, Australia. The venue was redeveloped, from two former cinemas, by property developer Leon Fink. The foyer of the Metro, designed b ...

; redeveloped from a cinema, it is now the city's leading rock music venue. The fate of the original chandelier, from which the Metro's copy was made, is unknown. The theatre had been listed on the

Register of the National Estate The Register of the National Estate was a heritage register that listed natural and cultural heritage places in Australia that was closed in 2007. Phasing out began in 2003, when the Australian National Heritage List and the Commonwealth Herita ...

,The Heritage of Australia, p.2/101 but this did not prevent its demolition by property magnate Leon Fink. Leon Fink was in business with well know property magnate and major organised crime figure,

Abe Saffron Abraham Gilbert Saffron (6 October 1919 – 15 September 2006) was an Australian hotelier, nightclub owner and property developer who was one of the major figures in organised crime in Australia in the latter half of the 20th century. For seve ...

, who was also a major share owner. The remodelled Regent Melbourne which has been converted for live performance still exists, as does the

Regent Theatre, Dunedin The Regent Theatre is a theatre in Dunedin, New Zealand with a seating capacity of about 1,650. It is in The Octagon, the city's central plaza, directly opposite the Municipal Chambers (Dunedin Town Hall) and close to the Dunedin Public Art Gal ...

in New Zealand, which serves as both a live performance venue and a cinema.

References

External links

Cinema Treasures - Regent Theatre
{{Theatres in Sydney Buildings and structures demolished in 1988 Former theatres in Sydney Demolished buildings and structures in Sydney Green bans Demolished theatres Cinemas in Sydney Former cinemas

Description and history

Closure and demolition

See also

References

External links