Astor Theatre
1 Chapel Street,
Melbourne,
VIC
3182
1 Chapel Street,
Melbourne,
VIC
3182
21 people
favorited this theater
Related Websites
Palace Cinemas, Australia (Official)
Additional Info
Operated by: Palace Cinemas
Architects: Ron Morton Taylor
Functions: Movies (Classic), Movies (Revival)
Styles: Art Deco
Phone Numbers:
Box Office:
61039.510.1414
Nearby Theaters
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Hoyts Royal Windsor
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Lyric Theatre
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Diamond Picture Theatre
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Hoyts Windsor Theatre
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Hoyts Empress Prahran
News About This Theater
- Dec 14, 2007 — Historic Astor Theatre "saved by bell"
Built on the site of an earlier cinema known as the Diamond Theatre (1908) and latterly the Rex Theatre (1914-1925). That building stood empty and derelict for ten years, until it was demolished for the construction of the Astor Theatre.
The Astor Theatre, located in the Melbourne suburb of St. Kilda, opened on Friday April 13, 1936, with a seating capacity of 1,692. The opening films were “Hands Across the Table”, starring Carole Lombard and Fred MacMurray and “Wanderer of the Wasteland” starring Dean Jagger.
The Astor Theatre is truly a rare survivor of a type of suburban picture theatre that appeared in the 1930’s. In this period, the emphasis had shifted from the construction of mammoth picture palaces in the city to building more intimate theatres in the suburbs.
The Astor Theatre has seen very few alterations since 1936 and has survived to this day untouched by time. It functioned as a typical independent suburban cinema until 1967, mainly showing films on their second run, and later in 1967, making a radical change by becoming a Greek-language theater. It was also used for concerts, but closed in February 1982.
In September of that same year, the theater was re-opened by its present owner, George Florence. To show films to their best advantage, new projection equipment was installed in 1985, and in 1998, a new wall-to-wall superscreen (20 meters wide) was erected. The stalls seats 550 and the dress circle can accommodate 620.
Over the years the operators of the Astor Theatre sought to reinstate and restore long-ignored internal features, such as the theater’s original bold color scheme, indirect lighting, and much of the internal fittings and furniture.
The Astor Theatre, in true Australian tradition, usually runs “classic” double features, with a daily change of program. Blockbusters have longer runs. The Astor Theatre has managed to survive virtually intact and has succeeded in recreating the ambience of a traditional suburban picture theatre from the era of pre-television cinema. In 2015 it was taken over by Palace Cinemas chain and after some refurbishment, re-opened 25th June 2015.
The Astor Theatre was listed on the Historic Register on 26th November 1998.
Contributed by
John Adey
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Recent comments (view all 27 comments)
Wish the street car wasn’t in the way.
Very nice theatre,great looking vertical sign.
The theatre yesterday celebrated it’s 75th anniversary with a screening of 1933’s KING KONG.
Well done George — your theatre is an absolute credit and when it comes to cinema treaures, it is world class.
wow, what great programming, I see that a week long run of ‘Raiders of Lost Ark’ of the new 2K Digital Cinema re-master is happening the first week of July!
Just to clarify, Ralph is now the new landlord, with no connection to The Astor Theatre – which is my business, and in operation since 1982. The landlord owns the physical building, The Astor Theatre – my business and a registered Trade Mark – is owned by my company (I am not simply a ‘manager’)
FYI, closing apparently. Copy & paste link. Thanks to Tim O'Neill for the heads up.
http://www.sbs.com.au/movies/article/2014/08/24/melbourne-s-cherished-cinema-astor-close-may-2015
Now taken over by the Palace Cinema chain. Was closed for a number of weeks following George Florenz’s expired lease. Closure was supposedly for renovations. While passing tonight I dropped in to see what upgrades had been made. Admittedly, only had access to foyer areas, but apart from removal of the totally inappropriate canopy over the circle candy bar, was hard pressed to see any improvement. Original box office now unused, along with 50’s ticket box (incidentally, attached to stalls concession stand) which now serves as ticket sales as well, along with bollards leading to this “convenience” that would put most garden mazes to shame. Peeling paint work, exposed cables, buckling wall displays. And don’t even get me started on the exterior. Admittedly those disgusting under awning led lights were installed before Palace Cinemas took over the lease, but HOW ON EARTH can they justify this bastardisation under their name branding? As for the famous neon Fin Light, until such time that restoration is actioned, please just TURN IT OFF. Hate to add to Palace Cinema’s profit, but keen to see if any renovations have taken place due to their claims of “restoring” this iconic building. Recent posts of elderly patrons in the stalls seems to indicate that seating has not been replaced, and most importantly, and sadly, previous lessee refused to acknowledge, installation of larger screen ruined sight-lines in the circle.
Seating CAN’T be replaced because it’s actually heritage listed but it can be repaired and they really do need to repair a lot of them. Also the theatre actually has all its screens, behind the current cinema-scope “super screen” is the older one from the 1950’s and behind that is the ORIGINAL 30’s screen. Also I’d like to see the original auditorium glass lights return as those looked a lot better than the current chandelier lights. Also my major gripe with the new management is how they refuse to use the upstairs snack bar, I’ve been to screenings here where the line for food has literally gone out the door and down the street. This could easily be fixed if they re-opened the upstairs foyer snack bar. Oh yeah and its also pay by card only which is kind of a pain.
This theatre was seen in the tv series “Great Australian Railway Journeys(series 1(episode - Canberra to Melbourne)). A little bit of the Australian movie "The Story of the Kelly Gang”(1906) was shown on the screen inside the theatre.
This theatre was used for the interior scenes in the picture theatre seen in the movie “Hercules returns”.