The Semaphore Library is a public library in Semaphore, South Australia. It was formerly the Semaphore Institute, Semaphore Town Hall, Ozone Theatre, and Semaphore Cinema, and is heritage-listed on both the state and national registers.

Institute and town hall

The building was constructed as the Semaphore Institute, an early mechanics institute, and opened on 15 March 1884. It was designed by architects Wright and Reed, and built by Williams & Cleave. It was a stone building with an iron roof, with a main hall and stage, entrance room, library and reading room on the ground floor, and offices for the local municipality, the

Corporate Town of Semaphore The corporate town of Semaphore was a local government area in South Australia. It was created on 20 December 1883, and re-gazetted on 17 January 1884, from areas which had been part of the District Council of Lefevre's Peninsula and District ...

, and a gallery on the second floor. In 1889, it was sold to the municipality to be used as the Semaphore Town Hall. The municipality merged with the adjacent

Corporate Town of Port Adelaide The City of Port Adelaide was a local government area of South Australia centred at the port of Adelaide from 1855 to 1996. Early years The council was established on 27 December 1855 when the Corporate Town of Port Adelaide was proclaimed as ...

in 1900, but it continued to be rented out for community events by the Port Adelaide council. From 1910 until around 1912 or 1913, the hall was used as a temporary cinema by a number of organisers while continuing to be used for other community functions. These included the

Greater Wondergraph Company Wondergraph, Wondergraph Theatre and variations were names given first to a technology, and then to picture theatres run first by the Continental Wondergraph Company (represented by two German men who arrived in Perth, Western Australia, in 1910 ...

, whose screenings were referred to as the Semaphore Wondergraph;

Ozone Theatres Ltd Ozone Theatres Ltd, formerly Ozone Amusements, was a cinema chain based in Adelaide, South Australia, from 1911 until 1951, when it sold its theatres to Hoyts. It was founded by Hugh Waterman and was jointly run by him and seven sons, including ...

; and the People's Concert and Picture Company. During the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, the

All-British League The All-British League was an organisation in South Australia during World War I. Its objectives were to promote British traditions and culture at the expense of others in the state, especially to suppress any social or political influence from Ge ...

held meetings and recruitment drives at the town hall.

Cinema

In 1929, the town hall underwent extensive renovations to designs in

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 Unite ...

style by architect

Christopher Arthur Smith Christopher Arthur Smith (19 November 1892 – 2 March 1952), also known as Chris Smith and Chris A. Smith, was a South Australian architect. He was a prolific designer of picture theatres and public buildings in Adelaide and regional South Austr ...

and converted into a

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 ...

, opening as the Ozone Theatre on 9 December. It included orchestra and balcony-level seating. It includes a proscenium in width and a stage in depth, and was equipped with a

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

sound system. Smith was a prominent architect of the period, designing many theatres and cinemas, and a number of public buildings including a refurbishment of the Brighton Town Hall. The company later became

Ozone Theatres Ozone Theatres Ltd, formerly Ozone Amusements, was a cinema chain based in Adelaide, South Australia, from 1911 until 1951, when it sold its theatres to Hoyts. It was founded by Hugh Waterman and was jointly run by him and seven sons, including ...

, and would become one of the two major movie chains in South Australia. In 1951,

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 ...

bought out the Ozone company, and in 1952 undertook a complete refurbishment of the Semaphore Cinema, reopening on 20 November as Hoyts Ozone Theatre. However, box office takings suffered from the introduction of television, and Hoyts closed the cinema on 21 May 1960. In 1966 the stalls area was converted into a

youth club A youth center or youth centre, often called youth club, is a place where young people can meet and participate in a variety of activities, for example table football, association football (US soccer, UK football), basketball, table tennis, vi ...

(Semaphore Youth Club), which included a

boxing ring A boxing ring, often referred to simply as a ring or the squared circle, is the space in which a boxing match occurs. A modern ring consists of a square raised platform with a post at each corner. Four ropes are attached to the posts and pulled p ...

(closed in 2978). In December 1977, a small cinema opened in the former

dress circle 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 ...

, known as the Semaphore Cinema and run by Alan and Fran Hall. This ran until 1 June 1985, after which the building was boarded up. The building was vacant from 1985 to 1993, when the City of Port Adelaide restored the building as the Semaphore Library, which opened on 11 February 1994.

Heritage listing

The building, located at 14 Semaphore Road, was listed on the

South Australian Heritage Register The South Australian Heritage Register, also known as the SA Heritage Register, is a statutory register of historic places in South Australia South Australia (commonly abbreviated as SA) is a state in the southern central part of Australia. ...

on 1 September 1983, and was also listed on the Register of the National Estate. The building remains substantially intact from its previous uses, and its state heritage listing notes that "enough interior elements of both periods s a cinemaremain for it to be quite a significant representative of suburban cinemas in their heyday".

References

{{Authority control Cinemas in South Australia Former cinemas Libraries in South Australia Town halls in South Australia Buildings and structures completed in 1884 Lefevre Peninsula South Australian Heritage Register South Australian places listed on the defunct Register of the National Estate