Premier Theatre and Summer Gardens
293 Stirling Street,
East Perth,
WA
6000
293 Stirling Street,
East Perth,
WA
6000
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The office block on this site has been demolished. Another building is being built on this site(unknown what the building is?).
Demolished in 1987. There is now a plaque on the footpath on the street corner where the Premier theatre and Gardens used to be(installed in september 2019?).
The Premier Theatre was built by the East Perth Football Club. Films had previously been screened outdoors at Perth Oval and the club decided to build an indoor theatre. WR (Bill) Haynes, the club’s patron, lent them the money for it but in 1927 he decided to take it over himself. Cyril Norton (secretary of the EPFC) became the manager.
The club colours of blue and black.
The tiles along the front of the building were in the club colours of blue and black. The interior had a pressed tin ceiling. The theatre seated 1,000 patrons downstairs and 440 upstairs (some reports 450) – In 1938 it underwent a major renovation both externally and internally to the Art Deco style, and new projectors and a sound system were installed. “When it was a top film we used to switch with the new Oxford Theatre. They’d show the first half and we’d show it the second half. A chap on a motor bike used to run between the two theatres with the spools.”
The deck chairs were expensive
The Premier Theatre Gardens were built in Stirling Street in the mid-1930s. “The deck chairs were expensive and the garden seats were the cheap ones. When it rained they used to have to carry half of the projection equipment across from the gardens to the theatre and start 20 minutes later. Everyone from the garden’s cheap seats used to head straight for the good seats upstairs.” posted online by (Graham Norton) – Contributed by Greg Lynch –
The Summer Gardens screened Greek(and Italian?) language films in the(1960’s?) and 1970’s.
There is a picture of the Premier Gardens(and Theatre?) in the book “Lost Perth volume 2”(page 74).