Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace
{{short description|Cinema built in Sydney, Australia in 1935}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2019}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace
| image = Cremorne 3.JPG
| caption = Pictured in 2007
| locmapin =
| map_caption =
| coordinates = {{coord|-33.82805|151.22969|format=dms|type:landmark_region:AU-NSW|display=inline,title}}
| map_relief =
| location = 380 Military Road, Cremorne, North Sydney Council, New South Wales, Australia
| area =
| elevation =
| height =
| beginning_label = Design period
| beginning_date =
| formed =
| founded =
| built = {{start_date and age|4 October 1935}}
| built_for = Angelo Virgona
| demolished =
| architect = George Newton Kenworthy
| architecture = Inter-war Art Deco
| owner =
| designation1 =
| designation1_offname = Cremorne Orpheum Theatre
| designation1_type = Local heritage (built)
| designation1_date = 2 August 2013
| delisted1_date =
| designation1_partof =
| designation1_number = I0066
| designation1_free1name = Type
| designation1_free1value = Cinema
| designation1_free2name = Listing
| designation1_free2value = North Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2013
| designation1_free3name = Builders
| designation1_free3value = F. T. Eastment and Sons
}}
The Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace, also known and originally as the Cremorne Orpheum Theatre, is a heritage-listed cinema located at 380 Military Road, in the northern Sydney suburb of Cremorne in the North Sydney Council local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by George Newton Kenworthy and built in 1935 by F. T. Eastment and Sons. It was added as a Heritage Item to the North Sydney Local Environmental Plan 2013 on 2 August 2013.{{cite web |title=Cremorne Orpheum Theatre |url=https://www.environment.nsw.gov.au/heritageapp/ViewHeritageItemDetails.aspx?ID=2181198 |website=NSW Heritage Inventory |publisher=NSW Government |accessdate=21 August 2019}}
The architect, George Newton Kenworthy, is known for his work in the Art Deco style, and most particularly his designs for theatres and cinemas including the Enfield Savoy Theatre (alterations 1938), the Majestic Theatre in Port Macquarie (1936), and the Regent Theatre in Mudgee (1935).{{cite web|last1=Roe|first1=Ken|title=Hoyts Savoy Theatre in Sydney, AU - Cinema Treasures|url=http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/35280#|website=cinematreasures.org|accessdate=12 February 2018}}{{cite web |title=New Information Regarding Regent Theatre Architect |url=https://www.revivetheregent.org.au/single-post/2017/11/20/New-Information-Regarding-Regent-Theatre-Architect |website=Revive The Regent Theatre |publisher=Revive The Regent Theatre Mudgee Inc. |accessdate=24 August 2019 |date=20 November 2017}}
History
File:View from inside Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace.jpg
The Italian-Australian Virgona family led by director Angelo Virgona, who had opened the North Sydney Orpheum on the corner of Alfred Street and Junction Street in North Sydney in 1913 and renovated into a more modern style in 1924 (it was resumed in 1968 and demolished for the new Warringah Expressway),{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article236695755 |title=NEW PICTURE SHOW AT NORTH SYDNEY |newspaper=The Labor Daily |issue=2 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=24 January 1924 |accessdate=25 August 2019 |page=8 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article229358936 |title=PICTURE SHOWS. |newspaper=The Sun |issue=561 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=28 December 1913 |accessdate=25 August 2019 |page=23 |via=National Library of Australia}} commissioned a new cinema further north in the Cremorne area in 1934 with an Art Deco design by prominent architect George Newton Kenworthy.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article146505331 |title=Cremorne Orpheum Theatre. |newspaper=Catholic Freeman's Journal |volume=LXXXV |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=21 November 1935 |accessdate=24 August 2019 |page=44 |via=National Library of Australia}} Completed at a cost of over £45,000, the Cremorne Orpheum Theatre was officially opened on 3 October 1935 by the local Member for Neutral Bay, Reginald Weaver.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article222914281 |title=OPPORTUNITIES FOR BUSINESS |newspaper=Construction and Real Estate Journal |volume=XLVI |issue=1375 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=8 August 1934 |accessdate=24 August 2019 |page=12 |via=National Library of Australia}}{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27993585 |title=AMUSEMENTS. CREMORNE ORPHEUM THEATRE. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=30,499 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=3 October 1935 |accessdate=24 August 2019 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} On its opening the Sydney Morning Herald noted that it was "designed on strictly modern lines, especially with regard to acoustic response and internal furnishings. It is regarded as one of the most up-to-date structures of the kind in Australia."{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article17209508 |title=CREMORNE THEATRE. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |issue=30,503 |location=New South Wales, Australia |date=8 October 1935 |accessdate=24 August 2019 |page=6 |via=National Library of Australia}} When it was first opened the theatre was also used for stage productions.
After a failed attempt to sell the theatre in 1971, it remained a family operated cinema until the Orpheum closed in 1979, a fate shared by many other suburban cinemas across Sydney. However in 1977 it had already been recognised for its heritage value by the National Trust of Australia (New South Wales), and its restoration was undertaken in 1987 led by John Love for a new owner, television personality Mike Walsh, at a cost of $2.5 million {{cite web|last1=Roe|first1=Ken|title=Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace - Cinema Treasures|url=http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/848|website=cinematreasures.org|accessdate=24 August 2019}}{{cite news |last1=Crawford |first1=Kate |title=Mike Walsh, the forgotten star of daytime television, appointed an AM in Australia Day honours |url=https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/north-shore/mike-walsh-the-forgotten-star-of-daytime-television-appointed-an-am-in-australia-day-honours/news-story/b22d993f608f0fed641fa21922c397b2 |accessdate=24 August 2019 |agency=Mosman Daily |date=28 January 2016}} The restoration works also transformed the theatre into a multiplex cinema, with the addition of a second screen in the former Ballroom area. Rechristened as the "Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace", it reopened on 9 December 1987 with the feature Planes, Trains and Automobiles. A third and fourth screens were added in the 1990s and two more were added in 2000 in the place of the former shopping arcade.
The 1987 restoration also added a 1925 Wurlitzer pipe-organ that was originally installed in the Wilson Theatre in Fresno, California until 1973, and it is often played at selected film screenings.{{cite web |title=Our Wurlitzer History |url=http://www.orpheum.com.au/now-showing/our-wurlitzer-history/ |website=Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace |accessdate=24 August 2019}} The cinema, which is a longtime favourite of film critic David Stratton, celebrated its 80th birthday in 2015.{{cite news |last1=Thomas |first1=Sarah |title=The Hayden Orpheum celebrates its 80th birthday and history of glitz, ghosts and spoon-throwing |url=https://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/the-hayden-orpheum-celebrates-its-80th-birthday-and-history-of-glitz-ghosts-and-spoonthrowing-20151125-gl7pk2.html |accessdate=24 August 2019 |agency=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=25 November 2015}}
See also
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{Official|www.orpheum.com.au}}
- [http://www.mikewalsh.com.au Mike Walsh AM OBE Official Website – The Hayden Group (Owner)]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hayden Orpheum Picture Palace}}
Category:Cinemas in New South Wales
Category:Art Deco architecture in Sydney
Category:Theatres completed in 1935
Category:1935 establishments in Australia
Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1935
Category:Cremorne, New South Wales