Victoria Theatre, Devonport | |
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The Victoria Theatre | |
![]() The Vic, Devonport | |
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Alternative names | The Vic |
General information | |
Type |
|
Architectural style | Art Deco |
Address | 48 Victoria Road, Devonport, Auckland 0624 |
Town or city | Auckland |
Country | New Zealand |
Coordinates | 36°49′45″S174°47′53″E / 36.82917°S 174.79806°E |
Inaugurated | 1912 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | John Walker |
Other information | |
Seating capacity | 386 |
Reference no. | 7712 |
The Victoria Theatre, in Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand, is both the country's and the Southern Hemisphere's oldest surviving purpose-built cinema, dating from 1912. [1] [2] It was extensively refurbished in 2010.
The Victoria Theatre was built in 1912 for American John Leon Benwell, and originally held a capacity of 965. [2] In 1914 John Benwell sold the theatre to Fuller-Haywards Picture Company. The building was remodelled after a fire in 1924. In 1929, Fuller-Haywards converted the building to allow for the new talking pictures. [3]
The Victoria was taken over by Kerridge Odeon in 1945. Kerridge ran the theatre until 1988, when dwindling patronage saw the building put up for sale. Publisher Bruce Palmer, who acquired the theatre, converted it into Charley Gray's Twin Cinemas Devonport, with three separate cinema theatres. The Victoria changed ownership several times in the following years, before a threat to turn it into an apartment complex in the early 2000s saw the creation of the Victoria Theatre Trust. The trust persuaded the then North Shore City Council to purchase the building, and reopened the venue as a cinema and live venue. [3]
The theatre was originally designed by Auckland architect John Walker and erected for £6,000, just two years after the country's first purpose-built cinema. The complex was built by Edward James for £6,500. Remodelling to accommodate sound technology in 1929 was to a design by Daniel Patterson. Patterson's changes included enlarging the previous building, with major changes to both interior and exterior. [4] Much of the building's current Art Deco exterior dates from this time. The building has a Heritage New Zealand Historic Place Category 1 status. [4]
The building currently contains four cinema theatres (total capacity 386) plus a live venue space. [2]
Devonport is a harbourside suburb of Auckland, New Zealand. It is located on the North Shore, at the southern end of the Devonport Peninsula that runs southeast from near Lake Pupuke in Takapuna, forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. East of Devonport lies North Head, the northern promontory guarding the mouth of the harbour.
Queen Street is the major commercial thoroughfare in the Auckland CBD, Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. The northern end is at Queens Wharf on the Auckland waterfront, adjacent to the Britomart Transport Centre and the Downtown Ferry Terminal. The road is close to straight, the southern end being almost three kilometres away in a south-southwesterly direction on the Karangahape Road ridge, close to the residential suburbs in the interior of the Auckland isthmus.
Takarunga / Mount Victoria is the highest volcano on Auckland's North Shore, rising to 66 metres in elevation. Its age is currently unknown. Its lava flows now line much of Devonport's waterfront. Takarunga was the location of an important pā used by Tāmaki Māori peoples. In the late 19th century, a gun fort was built on top of the hill, in order to defend the city of Auckland. As a designated tūpuna maunga, the mountain has been governed by the Tūpuna Maunga Authority, along with thirteen other cones throughout Auckland, since 2014.
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