The Spot is a locality in the Eastern Suburbs of

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, south-east of the CBD. The Spot is located in the south-eastern part of the suburb of

Randwick Randwick is a suburb in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Randwick is located 6 kilometres south-east of the Sydney central business district and is the administrative centre for the local government ar ...

, around the intersection of Perouse Road and St Pauls Street. It is a vibrant part of Randwick and consists of a collection of shops, restaurants, cafes and a cinema. Randwick The Spot Club-1

The Spot is a heritage conservation area and has many heritage listed buildings, such as the Ritz Cinema and Pan Arcadian House, a 1930s

Masonic Temple A Masonic Temple or Masonic Hall is, within Freemasonry, the room or edifice where a Masonic Lodge meets. Masonic Temple may also refer to an abstract spiritual goal and the conceptual ritualistic space of a meeting. Development and history I ...

and most notably the facade of shops on the corner of Perouse Road and St Pauls Street which follows a curved pattern, necessary for the tram route which used to extend to Coogee Beach.Schedule 5, . The Royal Hotel and

shopping centre are a short distance away. The area is well served by public transport with regular

Transdev John Holland Transdev John Holland Buses is a bus operator in Sydney, Australia. A joint venture between Transdev Australasia, Transdev and John Holland Group, John Holland, it operates services in Sydney Metropolitan Bus Service Contracts, Sydney Bus Regio ...

buses from the central business district and

Bondi Junction Bondi Junction is an Eastern Suburbs (Sydney), eastern suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is 6 kilometres east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Local government in Australia, local governm ...

Name

The Spot lies at the geographic centre of a residential suburb that some maps identify as “St Pauls”. The post office located at The Spot is also officially "St Pauls

2031 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 – Assuming no further extensions to the term of copyrights become law in the interim, books, films, and other works published in 1935 will enter the public domain. * January – NASA plans to d ...

." However, the

Geographical Names Board of New South Wales The Geographical Names Board of New South Wales, a statutory authority A statutory body or statutory authority is a body set up by law (statute) that is authorised to implement certain legislation on behalf of the relevant country or stat ...

does not list “St Pauls” as an officially registered place name within the Randwick Local Government Area.NSW Geographical Names Board Localities in Randwick
accessed 9 May 2009. The locality name of "The Spot", too, is not officially registered with the Geographical Names Board of New South Wales and, despite wide use, would appear to remain unofficial.

History

Early days of the colony

Research by a local historical society has revealed that The Spot probably lies on trails that were made through the bushland by members of earliest European settlements in

Sydney Cove Sydney Cove (Eora language, Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central ...

. Centrally placed at The Spot is a plinth on which is mounted a plaque that notes:

Between January and March, 1788, members of the Lapérouse expedition at
Botany Bay Botany Bay (Dharawal language, Dharawal: ''Kamay'') is an open oceanic embayment, located in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, south of the Sydney central business district. Its source is the confluence of the Georges River at Taren Point a ...
and the
First Fleet The First Fleet were eleven British ships which transported a group of settlers to mainland Australia, marking the beginning of the History of Australia (1788–1850), European colonisation of Australia. It consisted of two Royal Navy vessel ...
at
Sydney Cove Sydney Cove (Eora language, Eora: ) is a bay on the southern shore of Sydney Harbour, one of several harbours in Port Jackson, on the coast of Sydney, New South Wales. Sydney Cove is a focal point for community celebrations, due to its central ...
passed this place on goodwill visits. Their route is followed closely by parts of Avoca Street, Frenchmans Road and Perouse Road.

'Struggletown'

During the early years of the Randwick municipality, the area to the west of The Spot (Barker and Botany Streets) was home to labourers and workmen who built some of the finer homes in the Randwick area. The area was often referred to as 'Struggletown' or, less commonly, 'Irish Town'. The Struggletown name lives on near The Spot, in the form of the business name of the local veterinary clinic in Barker Street.

Cultural activities

The Ritz Cinema

The Ritz Cinema, built in 1937, is an example of the art deco cinema architecture that found a home in Australia during the 1920s and 1930s. The architect, Aaron Bolt, is known for his classic art deco buildings throughout Sydney, such as his commissions for grand apartment buildings in

Potts Point Potts Point is a small and densely populated suburb in inner-city Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Potts Point is located east of the Sydney central business district and is part of the Local government in Australia, local government area o ...

.Alex Tibbitts, 'Ushering in the golden age of cinema', ''

Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily tabloid newspaper published in Sydney, Australia, and owned by Nine Entertainment. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper in ...

'', 22 November 2008: p. 13. Since its construction, the cinema has been owned by, among others, the

Hoyts The HOYTS Group of companies in Australia and New Zealand includes HOYTS Cinemas, a cinema chain, and Val Morgan, which sells advertising on cinema screens and digital billboards. The company was established by dentist Arthur Russell in Melbo ...

cinema group and the

Brigidine Sisters The Brigidine Sisters (also known as the Brigidine Order, or simply the Brigidines) are a global Roman Catholic congregation, founded by Bishop Daniel Delany in Tullow, Ireland on 1 February 1807. The sisters' apostolate is education. Backgroun ...

(an order of nuns running the adjacent Brigidine College). In the late 1980s, the current owners planned to demolish the existing cinema and to redevelop the site. However, Randwick City Council and the Minister for Planning intervened and a Permanent Conservation Order was imposed on The Ritz building in March, 1993. The current owners refurbished the building in the late 1990s, adding additional cinemas to the original single principal cinema theatre in order to allow The Ritz to survive in the era of competition with larger multiplex cinema chains. In 1997, The Ritz Cinema was placed 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 Heri ...

by the

Australian Heritage Council The Australian Heritage Council is the principal adviser to the Australian Government on heritage matters. It was established on 19 February 2004 by the ''Australian Heritage Council Act 2003''. The Council replaced the Australian Heritage Commi ...

. This record notes that:

The Ritz Cinema is the only one of three remaining theatres of this style in an unaltered state still used as a cinema in
New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...
and is one of the few surviving examples of the hundreds of cinemas which were built during the 1930s, one of the most creative periods of cinematic design in Australia... The Ritz, which has operated almost continuously as a movie theatre since 1937, has social values as a community cultural entertainment centre in the Randwick area. The place is also highly valued by the Art Deco Society... The Ritz is significant for its intact and well detailed
Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...
design and is a prominent element in the St Paul's Road urban precinct ...

The Spot Food and Film Festival

Since 2008 Randwick City Council has held an annual food and film festival at The Spot featuring special screenings of films at The Ritz, live performances and food stalls. The Spot Food and Film Festival is run as a part of the Coogee Arts Festival.

Australian Film Walk of Fame

In 2008, The Australian Film Festival, The Spot Chamber of Commerce and Randwick City Council established the ''Australian Film Walk of Fame'', which is a "recognition of successful Australian artists in the film industry" and consists of a series of brass plaques set in the pavement on the northern side of St Pauls Street outside the Ritz Cinema.Randwick Council Business Papers 16 December 2008
accessed 24 May 2009. The Council has noted that The Spot Food and Film Festival will provide an ongoing opportunity for additional notable persons to be inducted into the Walk of Fame in the future. The first person recognised in the Walk of Fame was Australian actor

Bud Tingwell Charles William Tingwell AM (3 January 1923 – 15 May 2009), known professionally as Bud Tingwell or Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, was an Australian actor. One of the veterans of Australian film, he acted in his first motion picture in 1946 and we ...

, whose plaque stands outside the Ritz Cinema. Other Australian cinema identities commemorated in the Walk of Fame include:

Michael Caton Michael Caton (born 21 July 1943) is an Australian actor, comedian and television host, best known for playing Uncle Harry in the Australian television series '' The Sullivans'', Darryl Kerrigan in 1997's low-budget hit film '' The Castle'', an ...

;

Roy Billing Roy Harwood Billing (born 1947) is a New Zealand television actor, now based on Waiheke Island, New Zealand. He was brought up in Ruawai, Northland Region, Northland, New Zealand. Billing spent almost three decades living and working in Austral ...

;

Steve Bisley Steve Bisley (born 26 December 1951) is an Australian writer, film and television actor. He is best known for his roles in the films ''Mad Max'' (1979) and ''The Great Gatsby'' (2013). On television, some of his better-known roles include Dete ...

; and

Claudia Karvan Claudia Karvan (born 19 May 1972) is an Australian actress and producer. As a child actor, she first appeared in the film '' Molly'' (1983) and followed with an adolescent role in ''High Tide'' (1987). She portrayed a teacher in '' The Heartb ...

.Australian Film Festival Walk of Fame - Steve Bisley & Claudia Karvan
/ref>

Architectural heritage in the area

Under the ''Randwick Local Environment Plan'' 2012 a number of buildings in the vicinity of The Spot are listed as ''heritage items'' and the immediate locale a designated ''Heritage Conservation Area''. Buildings within the Heritage Conservation Area around The Spot include: * 13 Lee Street - an

Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

residence built c 1910 (item I402 ) * 84 Perouse Road - a two-storey

Federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

house (item I424 ) * 85 Perouse Road - a

Federation Bungalow Federation architecture is the architectural style in Australia that was prevalent from around 1890 to 1915. The name refers to the Federation of Australia on 1 January 1901, when the British colonies of Australia collectively became the Commonw ...

built c. 1915 (item I425 ) * 106 Perouse Road - a Federation Period Queen Anne cottage (item I427 ) * 108 and 110 Perouse Road - two Federation Period Queen Anne cottages (item I428 ) * 15 St Pauls Street - a Victorian terrace house (item I443 ) * 17 St Pauls Street - a Federation Period cottage (item I444 ) * 19 St Pauls Street - a Victorian

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style combined its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century It ...

terrace house (item I445 ) * 25-27 St Pauls Street - two Victorian Italianate terrace houses (item I446 ) * Ritz Cinema is designated a heritage item of 'State significance' (item I447 ) * 42 St Pauls Street - Pan Arcadian House, formerly the Masonic Temple (item I448 )

Gallery

Image: The Ritz Cinema Randwick - day.jpg, The Ritz Cinema by day. Image: Spot Pan Arcadian House night.jpg, Pan Arcadian House by night. Image: The Spot day pan A.jpg, A row of businesses along St Pauls Street. Image:(1)house_St_Pauls_Street_Randwick-3.jpg, Italianate terrace houses, 25-27 St Pauls Street Image:1_Randwick_Federation_Bungalow(1).jpg,

, 85 Perouse Road Image:(1)Federation_house_Perouse_Road_Randwick-2.jpg, Federation house, 84 Perouse Road

References

{{commons category, Australian Film Walk of Fame

External links

Website for the Spot Randwick

Randwick Ritz

The Spot Food and Film Festival
Spot, The