REGENT THEATRE, 2021
Melbourne, Victoria

The Regent Theatre was designed by Cedric Ballantyne and built by James Porter & Sons, and opened in 1929. Ballantyne combined Spanish Gothic and French Renaissance styles to produce one of Victoria's largest and most lavish cinemas in the inter-war period. The auditorium, surmounted by a domed ceiling and flanked by colonnades, provides a handsome spectacle in which, because of careful detail, the large scale of the enclosed space is not immediately apparent. The foyers and promenades are decorated in exaggerated styles, reflecting the ostentatious nature and romanticism of the cinema industry at that time, although they combine to enhance the splendour of the auditorium.

The Regent Theatre is of architectural significance as one of the best surviving examples of an inter-war period picture palace in Australia. Its imaginative combination of styles and sumptuous and spectacular interior spaces are a fine example of cinema architecture, providing an early 20th century example of architecture purely in the service of entertainment.

Sourced from the Victorian Heritage Database Report: Regent Theatre; Accessed 15/12/2021