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Crystal Palace Theatre 586 George Street, Sydney, NSW - 1920

Photo - State Library of NSW

Sydney’s Century Theatre was converted from the much larger Crystal Palace Theatre which opened 24th June 1912.

The Depression

The Depression was to see the theatre close down in 1932. After years of closure, a new cinema was built inside the shell. The new cinema was opened on 25th January 1938 with Paul Muni in “The Life of Emile Zola” and was called Hoyts Century Theatre. So named as the opening coincided with the Sesqui-Centenary celebrations being held in Sydney that year.

70mm projection

The Century Theatre was a first run movie house and was converted to 70mm projection on 28th July 1965 for the season of “My Fair Lady”, but the small 30ft curved screen did not do justice to big 70mm blockbusters, other than for the sound and very sharp image.

Art Deco

The theatre once had a nice Art Deco ambience with many features picked out in different colours. The 1966 re-modelling with two tones of purple and cream in the auditorium plus mauve contour curtain changed this atmosphere somewhat. The Century Theatre was vacated by Hoyts in 1977 and was used by another company until closed completely in 1979.

It was converted to an amusement arcade, retaining all of its cinematic features. It was finally demolished in 1983 - Notes Ian Hanson

Contributed by Greg Lynch -