Interesting things about the Capitol Theatre in Sydney

By Garry Searle


If you are paying a visit to Sydney, it would be a sin to miss the Capitol Theater. Located at 13, Campbell Street, right at the heart of Sydney's Haymarket, Chinatown, the Capitol Movie house is iconic in the world of Movie house, with the promise of an exquisite and unique Movie house experience. The Capitol eloquently reinvents the old world charm of the 1930s with all its grandeur and opulence, intelligently combining it with modern amenities, but with style and elegance.

What began as early as 1892 as the Belmore Market building has today transformed into one of the most popular vacationer attractions of the city. Built by City Architect George McRae, and Norman Selfe, a structural engineer, as early as 1981, you can still see the motifs of fruits and foliage from its days as a marketplace, on the remains of the terra cotta decorations of the arches.

The building was reconstructed in 1916, when it was transformed into a hippodrome, an open air arena, intended especially for the Wirth Bros circus. One placing feature that was built at the time was a 3.6 meters deep water tank, 12 meters in diameter, which was used to enthrall the crowd with performances by seals and polar Bears. When the pool was not in use, it doubled up as a circus ring. The pool exits to date, Nonetheless is covered by a new floor.

Ten year from then, when the Circus became commercially non-viable, the building was finally transformed into a picture palace, or a movie Movie house. It was then in 1927, that a renowned American architects, John Eberson and Sydney Movie house designer Henry White redesigned the building to look like the Capitol as we know it, for its new tenants Union Movie houses. That is when the building attained its architectural props and classical reproduction statues, that lend the grandeur and old world charm to it. It received a grand opening in 1928, and any individual who stepped within seemed to have been transported to a magical world, and was left mesmerized by its whimsical decor and lavishness.

folks would escape to the Capitol to be fascinated by the charms of a different Universe. The Capitol hosted epic shows of orchestra, musicals, operas, ballet performances, However its glory was short-lived. Soon after, the country was hard hit by Melancholy, and by 1933 the Capitol was converted into a talkies and begun screening second class films. By the late 1970s the Sydney City Council was previously considering demolishing it. Later in 1981 a Heritage Council conservation committee took over and recreated it into a world class lyric theatre.

After a restoration process that took almost two years and $30 million to complete, with an expanded orchestra pit, new dressing bedrooms and specialized areas, was Capitol's final claim to fame. An acclaimed production of Miss Saigon, in 1995, shot Capitol back to accomplishment giving Sydney a theatre to be proud of.

The fixed up Capitol theatre, today, is the country's only atmospheric cinema that has been entirely developed into a primary lyric theatre, which offers men and women a unique theatre experience and simultaneously preserves a crucial part of the theatrical and architectural history and tradition of Australia and with such a rich history is an complete must visit.




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