The Wintergarden Theatre

 Wintergarden Theatre usherettes, 1926. Foxy.

Moving Pictures came quickly to Brisbane after they were invented in 1895.  Australians made the first full-length feature film and the national film industry was big  - although Hollywood soon took over and dominated.  At first, moving pictures were shown in very makeshift locations (sheds, tents, etc.) but soon theatres were showing films on screens in place of live acts.  When it was seen that the moving picture fad was here to stay the first dedicated Picture Palace was built - The Wintergarden.

Opening 1 August, 1924 with Where the North Begins, it was a lavish new arrival heralded in the local paper for months beforehand.  Over 10,000 individual lights of changing colours hidden behind the intricate fretwork ceiling created a fantasy space.  A Wurlitzer organ, the largest in Brisbane (at the time) was installed to accompany films and represented an orchestra of 100. The theatre was naturally ventilated through ingenious techniques.

This fantastic shot looking south west down Queen Street (to the river) shows the 1931 ANZAC parade with people lining the route quite closely. The shop awnings are amazing and the facades above them are a variety of styles. The Wintergarden Theatre is centre top with its original neon sign over two stories long.

The second sign was a huge neon WGT (probably the biggest in the street) shown here within the mid-1930s streetscape of Queen Street. The proliferation of neon signs was a distinctly short lived and beautiful phenomenon.

Facade illuminated for the Royal visit of Duke and Duchess of York, 1927. The building only had a narrow frontage to Queen Street and the large form of the theatre was behind the shop to the right of the photo. 

 The bulk of the theatre can be seen here from Elizabeth Street in this 1974 photo.

 The facade in 1975.

Photo c1930. The foyer was famous for its fresh flower displays.

The original proscenium arch and curtains, c1928.

Curtains and arch as altered in the 1930s for a more 'deco' look.

 The balcony 1930s, probably after the deco renovation.

Photo c1939. The auditorium held a huge number of patrons. The intricate latticed ceiling panels can be seen. These were lit from behind by a kaleidoscope of colours. The ceiling also acted as ventilation.

The Wintergarden Theatre lasted until December 1973. After then its foyer was used as a shop and then as a bank with the auditorium unused. Along with the extraordinary and stately 1888 Her Majesty's Opera House (later theatre) next door, The Wintergarden Theatre was demolished in 1981 to make way for the Wintergarden shopping centre.

 The shopping centre underwent a renovation completed in 2012. The facade is a series of patterned grilles illuminated from behind by thousands of coloured lights inspired by the demolished theatre's ceiling.