The Windsor Cinema (formerly Windsor Theatre and Gardens and Windsor Twin Cinema) is located at 98

Stirling Highway Stirling Highway is, for most of its length, a four-lane single carriageway and major arterial road between Perth, Western Australia and the port city of Fremantle in Western Australia on the northern side of the Swan River. The speed limit ...

Nedlands, Western Australia Nedlands is an affluent western suburb of Perth, the capital city of Western Australia. It is a part of the local government areas of the City of Nedlands and the City of Perth. It is about from the Perth CBD via either Thomas Street or Mou ...

. It is an

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 ...

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 * ...

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 ...

and constructed in 1937. It is currently leased by Luna Palace Cinemas.

History

The Windsor Theatre was built in 1937 by W.H Ralph and Sons for E.P Nelson of Claremont District Pictures. It was constructed in brick with rendered and plastered finishes externally and internally. The Windsor Cinema is typical of a number of Australian cinemas built during the 1930s-40s, although the inclusion of a movable projector which could be used to screen films into the adjacent picture garden was unique at its time. It was officially opened on 10 September 1937 by the Chairman of the Nedlands Road Board, Mr. Bennett. The theatre had a seating capacity of at least 800, the largest in the district at the time. The cinema shared a bio-box with the picture gardens, similar to the

Cygnet Cinema Cygnet Cinema is located at 16 Preston Street, Como, Western Australia. 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 ...

in South Perth. This was a world first design for architect,

, who developed the concept of a projecting wing to the main bio-box which when coupled with a trolley rail system enabled the movie projectors to be quickly rolled from the internal to the external garden projection ports and vice versa. The theatre was operated by Vince Lucus until it was taken over by Independent Film Distributors. The gardens did not survive the introduction of television, and closed in 1968. Extensive renovations were done to the cinema, with the last remnants of the picture garden being demolished in 1988. The cinema survived the introduction of television by becoming an 'art house' venue. The Windsor was the first cinema to screen subtitled films in Perth. Sometime during the 1970s, a fire struck the cinema. The cinema was restored, but closed on 24 September 1983. The venue was purchased by Roger and Chrissie Hunt & Cyril Watson. They built a second indoor cinema where the gardens used to be, and opened the second screen in November 1988. The new 'twin' cinema has a capacity to seat 210 people and the old auditorium has seating arrangements for 500 people. In 1997, the old auditorium, Cinema 1, air-conditioning was upgraded from the single compressor unit of the 1960s. Cinema 2 had air-conditioning installed when built. In November 2005 the Windsor Cinema became part of the Luna Palace group, following a leasing agreement between the owners and Luna Palace management. In July/August 2012 Luna Palace installed NEC Digital Cinema systems in both Cinema 1 and 2 bio-boxes.

Architectural character

The Windsor Cinema is an example of Inter-War Functionalist architectural design. The functionalist characteristics of the cinema include the use of decorative elements that serve no particular function, horizontal and straight lines (often three in parallel), roofs concealed behind parapets, steel and reinforced concrete used to achieve wide spans and the

asymmetrical Asymmetry is the absence of, or a violation of, symmetry (the property of an object being invariant to a transformation, such as reflection). Symmetry is an important property of both physical and abstract systems and it may be displayed in pre ...

massing of simple geometric shapes. A Nautical Moderne design aspect is seen in the steel balustrading, which reflects the influence of elements associated with

ocean liners An ocean liner is a passenger ship primarily used as a form of transportation across seas or oceans. Ocean liners may also carry cargo or mail, and may sometimes be used for other purposes (such as for pleasure cruises or as hospital ships). Ca ...

. There has been many changes to the building both externally and internally since its construction in 1937. These include the removal of the picture gardens and replacement with a second modern cinema and car parking, removal of the original candy bar, ticket box and booking office, modernisation of the toilets, demolition of old street canopy, new foyer ceiling, modifications to the projection room and bio-box balcony and the installation of new seating throughout the auditorium.

Heritage value

The Windsor Cinema was classified by the National Trust (WA) on 3 December 1990. The building is also included on the

City of Nedlands The City of Nedlands is a local government area in the inner western suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth, about west of Perth's central business district. The City is situated within the western suburbs of the metropolit ...

' Municipal Heritage Inventory although it is not listed on the State Register of Heritage Places, having been determined by the

Heritage Council of Western Australia The Heritage Council of Western Australia is the Government of Western Australia agency created to identify, conserve and promote places of cultural heritage significance in the state. Prior to its creation, considerable variance in policy and ...

in 1995 as not meeting the threshold criteria.

References

External links

Official website
{{Cinemas in Western Australia Heritage places in Perth, Western Australia Cinemas in Perth, Western Australia Streamline Moderne architecture in Australia Art Deco architecture in Western Australia

History

Architectural character

Heritage value

Further reading

References

External links