Hub and Roxy star in big screen Comeback

The smell of buttered popcorn may be returning to a suburb near you as Sydney councils and heritage bodies fight to revive suburban cinemas.

The National Trust is campaigning to reopen two of Sydney’s most architecturally spectacular playhouses, the Roxy in Parramatta and the Hub in Newtown, while Double Bay may get a rooftop cinema.

The trust’s advocacy manager, Graham Quint, said the rebirth of the Roxy and Hub would only provide a boon for smaller Australian and independent films, which are often shunned by bigger cinema, but would breathe new life into some of Sydney’s unique buildings.

“Many of these cinemas were built during the great depression, when people were looking for an escape,” he said. “they’re exquisite examples of a style of building that just isn’t done anymore.”

Meanwhile Fivex Commercial Property has drawn up a plan for a new rooftop cinema in Double Bay. The development application has been deferred for consideration by Woollahra Council because of concerns about noise, but the Mayor, Andrew Petrie, said the proposal had its support in principle.

The suburb’s Village Twin cinema closed in 2004, the same year a Greater Union multiplex opened in Westfield Bondi Junction.

“It was devastating for shopkeepers, all the cafes and restaurants – it killed Sunday trading immediately,” said Cr Petrie.

“Frankly, I’m supporting the concept of anything that will assist help revitalising Double Bay.”

The project developer, Lesli Berger, said he was confident there was a market for “high-end” boutique cinema in the eastern suburbs.

Many of Sydney’s most significant cinemas, such as the regal Grosvenor Theatre in Summer Hill, were lost to the wrecking ball. Others, such as the Valhalla in Glebe, which closed in 2005, were converted for other uses.

Paul Brennan, who has worked with some of Sydney’s most successful surviving suburban cinemas, including the Cremorne Orpheum, traces the demise of theatres to the arrival of the multiples and colour television in the 1970’s. “Right on the heels of that came video in 1983-84, and the industry didn’t pick up again for years,” he said. The survivors have one thing the multiplexes can’t complete with, said Mr Brennan – “style”.

Sydney Morning Herald, 19 December, 2009

By Josephine Tovey