[COM] Her Majesty’s Theatre Expansion

[AndyWelsh]

Taken today:
















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[Jaymz]

Wow. Didn't realise it was going to be such an extensive rebuild. Pretty much only the southern and eastern facades left intact. Impressive.

[[Shuz]]

I thought it was just the backstage and stage area and the new side bit getting done, not a complete redevelopment. This isn't an expansion, this is basically a new build, except for saving the facade.

[claybro]

I thought it was just the backstage and stage area and the new side bit getting done, not a complete redevelopment. This isn't an expansion, this is basically a new build, except for saving the facade.

It is a shame there is no grand old theatre left in Adelaide, like the Princess theatre in Melbourne, the Capitol in Sydney or even His Majesty in Perth. From memory there was nothing left of the old interior of Her Majesty in Adelaide anyway, so no great loss, and probably the façade was the only redeeming feature worth saving. As usual, most of the damage if not outright obliteration to this and other theatres was the terrible era of the 60's. There are several of these old theatres still dotted around the other Australian capitals, trouble is, they are ridiculously expensive to maintain as public venues, and really don't lend themselves to a large variety of uses. Most still remaining sit in genteel decay. At least for this development, we should end up with a great performance venue, with a very pretty façade.

[AndyWelsh]

I agree Claybro. I’m originally from Newcastle in the UK and we had a beautiful old Paramount Theatre, that was wrecked internally in the 70s, then recently sat empty and decaying for well over 10 years in the heart of the city. It was demolished last year and is now a shipping container thingy with some pop up bars and shops or something.


Paramount Theatre, Newcastle UK:




What is there now (shipping containers):



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[Algernon]

^^

Adelaide had a lot of small theatres throughout the city. Not all of them were killed off by modernism per se, but rather were re-purposed as cinemas. Their second/final death occurred when they could no longer survive as cinemas (and were repurposed as things like supermarkets). Many were lost before I was born, but there is still the likes of the Regent on Rundle Mall which were lost quite recently.

My mrs (non native English speaker) and I initially had a confusion over the word 'theatre'. As an Aussie English speaker, theatre and cinema are often used interchangeably. She couldn't get her head around that because to her it's a word from a dictionary - kino = cinema, divadlo = theatre. So when I showed her around Adelaide I took her out to all the suburban cinemas and showed her how some evolved through life from theatre to cinema, illustrating that the word theatre stayed in the psyche because they were ostensibly the same building with a similar purpose - all that had changed was the stage was now a screen. We ended up seeing Dunkirk 3 times because she just wanted to go inside and see the theatre

It's sad how many theatres/cinemas Adelaide actually lost over the journey, but there's still some great places. Piccadilly cinema is a fantastic art deco cinema. When I grew up in Adelaide I never gave suburban cinemas a second thought, driving straight past them on the way to Marion. Now when I visit my first thought is to check whether the same film is on in Semaphore. Also, as a kid I never had a clue the Queen's Theatre was tucked away half a block from my bus stop. It's true that travel broadens the mind, but much of that broadening is discovering things you never knew about home.

[Algernon]

For those who are interested: historic theatres and cinemas in Adelaide

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/aus ... tus=closed

[EBG]

Piling has started on site today. picture later

[Smithy85]

Any chance of a crane here? Small hammerhead possibly?

[EBG]

I think Smithy85 could be right. This looks like a crane base (behind the 'ultra boom' hoist). It is right in the centre of the site and I could not get a clear view. the pile driver was behind it at the front of the site.

[Smithy85]

Yes just drove past. Definitely a crane base.

[citywatcher]

Anyone know when crane is up
Still some piling to do I would say

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[EBG]

Crane going up today & tomorrow.

[citywatcher]

Walked passed/ past after 3 nothing there
That was quick

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[EBG]

Tower complete with cabin 9.30 pm .