Victoria Theatre
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For the Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall click here.
The Victoria Theatre, opened in 1876 and rebuilt during 1890-91 is Australia's oldest purpose-built theatre.
The first Victoria Theatre was built on the site in 1876. This was altered in 1885 and razed in 1890. The second theatre was built in 1890/1 and closed in 1966.
The architect in charge of the 1890 rebuilding was Mr. James Henderson, who elaborately furnished the three level auditorium in Grecian theme. A large stage house and a small first class hotel were also incorporated in the second theatre, the latter closed during 1921 during extensive renovations to convert the theatre into dual stage and screen use.
By early 1922, the Victoria was taken over by Sir Benjamin and John Fuller of Melbourne's Princess Theatre fame and they built the large late Sydney St. James Theatre and added Newcastle's Victoria to their national live theatre chain.
In 1942 Hoyts took control of the theatre. CinemaScope was installed around 1955, with no widening of the somewhat decorated proscenium. Despite it's use as a picture theatre, live theatre continued at the Victoria up until the 1960s, when the Sydney Symphony Orchestra was still performing concerts there.
The dual career of the nation's oldest theatre ended quietly during 1966. After 90 years of uninterrupted service, the interior of the Victoria has been left practically untouched by owners to ensure that it maintains the potential to be reopened in the future.
The interior dress circle, circle foyer, proscenium, stage, fly tower, dressing rooms, ceilings and walls of the Victoria are all intact. Only the vestibule (lower foyer)and back stall area had been subject to alteration for retail purposes. The exterior above the awning is also intact, as it was after the 1921 alterations (with the former hotel windows 'blinded' when the auditorium was extended.
When in operation, the Victoria was the principal theatre in Australia’s second-oldest city, Newcastle, and over the course of its history had attracted performers such as Gladys Moncrieff, Lily Langtry, Richard Tauber, Joan Hammond and June Bronhill. Touring companies also performed at the Victoria, notably London's D'Oyly Carte Opera Company, as well as ballet troups.
Jim Gerald performed at the Victoria Theatre on September 4, 1915 as apart of his Australia-wide tour. It was the actor's second last performance before joining the Australian Imperial Forces during the First World War.
The former Australian Minister for the Environment and Heritage, Senator Robert Hill, spoke of the theatre in 1999 saying "Melbourne's Progress Cinema and former Lyric Theatre, and Newcastle's former Victoria Theatre are part of a vanishing aspect of Australia's heritage".
The Victoria is only one of several large stage and screen theatres built across the city from the 1870s up until the early twentieth-century that have since been closed down. Others of importance were the Central Mission Theatre on King Street as well as the picture theatres Strand, Lyric and Royal.
The New South Wales Heritage Office has declared the Victoria the oldest theatre building in New South Wales and listed it as having historical importance on the grounds that it represents an age of silent pictures, vaudeville and early legitimate theatre that no other building can offer in the State - being over 100 years old.
The Newcastle Civic Theatre at Wheeler Place behind Newcastle's City Hall was the showpiece of Art Deco architecture and revival in the city's West End when it opened in 1929. Subsequently, the theatre is still in operation and is the oldest surviving theatre in the city.
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