Civic Theatre

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Civic Theatre 919 Beaufort Street, Inglewood, WA

Tom Snooks was actively involved with the Civic Theatre site in Inglewood, Western Australia from the early 1920s until his death in 1958. It was in the early 1920s that Tom built the Piccadilly Picture Gardens, which was one of the first outdoor film-showing venues in the inner north-eastern suburbs. It was a structure that fascinated the local children, as it was built to resemble a castle, clad in appropriately painted corrugated iron. Owing to the success of this venture he reshaped the entire site in the early 1930s, building an indoor cinema with an adjoining picture gardens – now rechristened the Civic Theatre – together with a series of shops providing second-storey accommodation and two blocks of flats. He was the designer, builder, and owner of this prominent complex that occupies the corner of Beaufort Street and Dundas Road. Tom chose the name Civic because, like the clock tower that looked both ways along this arterial road, it looks the same from both directions. Being a thrifty man, the earlier name Piccadilly was reused for the new flats. This heritage-listed complex of buildings was redeveloped for residential purposes – owing to the demise of suburban cinemas in the face of television.The Janus-like clock tower, however, remains as a major local landmark – Contributed by Greg Lynch –