Capitol Theatre
Location: 3-15 Campbell Street, Sydney, NSW 2000
Constructed: 1893 - 1928
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Don't just come for the show! Come for a great and total night out! Arrive early and savour a relaxing drink with friends before the show in the elegant and magnificent bars.
The Capitol Theatre reinvents the atmosphere of the 1930s with its opulence but incorporates modern elements with style and elegance. The Capitol features an exterior dating from 1892, when it was the new Belmore Market Building.
The refurbished Capitol offers the public a unique theatre experience as a redeveloped major lyric theatre. It achieves the conservation of a vital piece of Australian theatre and architectural history.
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Physical Description
A brick building with stone cornices, strings and other dressings, ornamental terracotta capitals, spandrills, rosettes etc with tiles panels and into which was later built an atmospheric type plaster and brick picture palace. (Chapman 1976) |
Modifications
1893 - Belmore markets completed
1913-1917 - redevelopment and conversion to Hipporome
1927-1928 - conversion to Capitol theatre
1933 - 1972 - interiors gradually stripped
1972 - atmospheric and ornamental fabric removed and altered
1990s - restored and reconstructed |
Condition
Physical condition is excellent. Archaeological potential is low. |
History
During the 1880s facilities for the bulk sale of fruit and vegetables came under increasing pressure. In March 1891, Sydney Council appointed a committee to recommend a new site for a major covered market. They suggested the adjacent space of the Haymarket and this proposal was adopted in the following July. The principal contractor for the building was Alexander Allen of Summer Hill and his tender of 24,902 pounds was approved in November 1891. The markets opened in July 1893. The New Belmore Markets as it was called was designed by George McRae. The facade presented thirty-six arched bays to the streets: eleven to Campbell and Hay and seven to Parker and Pitt.
The New Belmore Markets was not an economic success and led Council to seek alternative uses for the building. In 1912 the New Belmore Market was leased for ten weeks to Wirth Bros for the purpose of a circus and hippodrome. Council decided to recycle the fabric of the New Belmore Market to create a theatrical circus venue. In September 1912, the Council accepted Wirth's tender for a twenty-one year lease of the proposed Hippodrome.
The conversion was under the control of Robert Hargreave Broderick. The facade was dismantled and re-erected above a new ground storey which was in turn mounted on the old footings. The redevelopment was split into two major contracts: the eastern half now known as the Manning Building was awarded to JM & A Pringle in May 1913 and the Hippodrome theatre to the west to William Maston and Thomas Yates in December the same year. The Hippodrome finally opened in April 1916.
Despite the Hippodrome's versatility, it was not a financial success and by 1926 Wirth's had decided to seek the remodelling of the buildings as a picture palace. Plans for the work were completed by Henry White in February 1927 for 'Capitol Theatre Sydney Limited' and the same month Wirths wrote to the Sydney City Council requesting a 'remodelling' of the building for its proposed new function. Henry White was a very experienced theatre designer and in 1927 visited America with Stuart Doyle, the managing director of Union Theatres Ltd., to review the latest developments in theatre design. Whilst in the United State, architect John Eberson was engaged to provide White with designs for the conversion of the Hippodrome. The plans for an atmospheric auditorium were very much like Eberson's Riviera at Omaha, Nebraska. The conversion involved remodelling the interior and raising the roof trusses to make room for the atmospheric ceiling and extended slope of the new gallery. In May 1927, the Sydney City Council approved Wirth's proposed alterations. The Capitol opened on the 7th April 1928. In 1929 the theatre was fitted to screen talkies but by 1931-32 Greater Union was in financial difficulties with the Depression. In November 1932 the Capitol closed its doors.
It re-opened in April 1933 screening second-rate movies. Maintenance economies gradually put machinery and lighting out of action and in 1945 all 'unwanted' decoration including banners, tapestries and artificial foliage was stripped from the interiors.
In 1972 the theatre lease was removed from Greater Union Theatres and awarded to Harry M. Miller for the production of Jesus Christ Superstar. At that time the atmospheric and ornamental fabric was removed.
During the 1990's the lease was transferred to Ipoh Garden Developments Pty Ltd. At this time the Capitol Theatre underwent a detailed restoration and reconstruction to recover the original 1928 experience. It has now been returned to its original grandeur. (Kerr 1990)
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Internet links
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Attraction Homepage |
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Data
| Name of Item: |
Capitol Theatre |
| Type of Item: |
Built |
| Collection: |
Recreation and Entertainment |
| Category: |
Theatre |
| Location: |
3-15 Campbell Street, Sydney,
NSW 2000 |
| Local Govt: |
Sydney |
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| Designer: |
Henry White and John Eberson |
| Constructed: |
1893 - 1928 |
| Current Use: |
Theatre |
| Former Use: |
Markets, circus venue, atmospheric theatre |
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