Page 8 - CinemaRecord #11R.pdf

66. Midland/Astor/Ararat Entertainment Centre by Gerry Kennedy

Architect: Rhys E. Hopkins (Melbourne) Opened: 22nd October, 1938
Closed: 1st September, 1984 Re-opened: August, 1986

Ararat is located 190 kms. west of Melbourne on the Western Highway. The current population is about 6,500.
Apart from being a supply town for the surrounding rural area, Ararat was, up to recent times, a major supplier
of Government services including an important junction rail centre, correctional and hospital services. Many of
these facilities have closed with a serious consequence to employment. Ararat's former importance as a supply
town included the provision of cinema entertainment. Prior to the construction of the Midland Theatre films were
screened at the Town Hall and the Paramount Theatre.

The developers of the Midland, Otto Spehr and J. Freidman, visited America to study cinema design prior to
building a new theatre in Ararat They were impressed by a theatre they saw in California and decided to build an
exact copy of it.

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Midland Theatre 1938

The theatre was built in Barkly St., at the corner of Queen St., on a site 21m (70') x 49.5m {165') It featured a
cream brick two storied facade with a curved tower on the corner. Tall , metal framed windows, fitted with amber
glass, were fitted in the upstairs Barkly St. frontage and the tower. The theatre's name was affixed to the facade
in large silver and maroon letters. The facade was floodlit with large lights mounted on top of the awning. The
large awning extended across the full Barkly St. frontage and around the corner into Queen St. In contrast to
the cream facade of the building the auditorium section of the building was in red brick.

The spacious entrance foyer was entered either from Barkly St., or at the corner. A sweets shop was situated on
the left hand side of the frontage with direct access to the foyer.
There were many unusual features about the theatre which included the large amount of space devoted to the
downstairs foyer storage rooms, poster room, toilets, staff rooms, the grand central staircase and the manager's

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