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Photo - Wayne Jacobs

Located in the Thornbury district of Melbourne, this opened as the Regent Theatre on 8th August 1925.

It was designed by Sam Millsom who specialised in fibrous plasterwork, although he was not a trained architect. A feature on the façade is a large bass-relief featuring a ploughman and his rearing horses. It was built for F.W. Thring’s Associated Theatres Pty. Ltd. and presented films and vaudeville acts on its large stage.

In 1926 it was taken over by Hoyts and re-named Hoyts Regent Theatre.

It was equipped with a Western Electric sound system in August 1929. The Regent Theatre was unheated until 1946 when architectural firm Cowper, Murphy and Associates supervised the installation of a gas-fired plenum system and carried out other minor alterations to the theatre. Hoyts purchased the freehold of the theatre at this time - Notes by Ken Roe

Contributed by Greg Lynch -