The Astor Theatre in the Perth suburb of Mt Lawley started life in 1919 as The Lyceum. At the time, architect, builder and owner, Simon Bremner, claimed it was the coolest building in Western Australia due to the ventilation installed in the theatre. The current operators claim it is still one of the coolest buildings in WA in a less physical meaning of the word.
By 1930, the venus had become the State Theatre and State Summer Gardens with extensive renovations coking later in the 1930s. The gardens survived until 1970 but the State lost it's name in 1941 due to a State Givernment decree that private enterprises couldn't use that name. The Astor was born.
Over time the building has been split in two showing Adult films and Italian language films, hosted bingo and karate lessons before being Heritage Listed in 1988 when threatened with demolition.
The theatre was refurnbished in 1991 and currently is used for both films and live concerts.
Reference:
Astor Theatre website
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Astor Theatre, Mt Lawley
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Perth is sooooo hot in summer, you could die without good ventilation and shaded gardens. So "State Theatre and State Summer Gardens" would have been an excellent name for the site. I heard today is going to be 43c in the west!
ReplyDelete43c!!! That must be the weather that is heading to Melbourne for New Year's Eve.
ReplyDelete