Page 29 - CR

Over the road the Metro (Hindley 1-4) after
only 37 years of screening films has been
demolished and replaced with a concrete and
glass, student accommodation building with
no architectural merit.
Today the Metro is gone. The Regent is
a shopping arcade but its façade remains.
Wests however, had an expensive refit
retaining many of the original features
including the magnificent circular staircase
and art déco mirrors. The auditorium has
been acoustically treated and is now called Open to the public is the foyer and circular
The Grainger Studio although the old stairs as well the entire stalls area. The circle,
Olympia stage is blocked off and converted although bricked up, is there too!
into three levels of offices.

Wests as Hindley Cinemas 5&6. I hope that what remains is worthy of
The unused projection room and the clock retaining for future generations to appreciate
tower also remain – minus the clock and
After all this, Greater Union then re- sign, and the façade still has the grooves in - a time when 35mm and 70mm film was
purchased the theatre! Remodelling occurred the render where the yellow neons once lit the ultimate cinema experience and it was
and the most significant alteration was the external features of Wests. necessary to book a seat as theatres were
removal of the curved setback, steps and frequently had a “full house”.
pillars revealing the circular staircase again. The old Wests is now the home of the
The entrance foyer increased in size and is Adelaide Symphony Orchestra (ASO). With the advent of digital motion pictures
now as large as the stalls! Only the Festival T.J West would be proud - a century ago it and projection, the life of film projection
Centre has a larger foyer in the city. was the home of Wests Vice Regal Orchestra and single screen theatres is almost over.
entertaining Adelaide with music to The amazing period of picture-palace
The large façade sign was removed and the complement silent black-and-white movies. construction will never return, but a few
exterior painted purple to match the former should be retained.
Metro exterior across the road. Interior Although nothing remains of the Cyclorama
alterations converted the circle balcony - and little of the Olympia, a few remnants May the Sun never set on Wests – Adelaide. H
half for the projection room and half as an do still exist - the green room and dressing
entrance to a new auditorium which was rooms with original murals and the full fly-
constructed on the rear vacant lot. tower stage can be seen from Rosina Street. It was a great privilege to know the late Sam
While the projection room is accessible, as Hayward and Bob Wilson and thanks to them for
This now created Hindley Cinemas 5&6 to is the clock tower, they belong to the rebuilt their memories.
compliment Hindley 1-4 opposite. Cinema 5 Wests (1939). Special Thanks also to: Dylan Walker, Trevor
was created by using the entire former Wests Brown, Brian Pearson, Colin Flint, Bronte
stalls area. The new cinemas opened on 10 Harrington, David Brooks, Herb Poulton, Kevin
th
December 1982 with E.T. and Peter Weir’s The building in 2012. Adams; Andrew Gamp and many others who have
The Year of Living Dangerously. shared their experiences and photos with me.
Greater Union also owned the My Fair Lady Sources:
Cinema further down Hindley Street. It had been The Register, The Sunday Mail, The Advertiser,
built by Freemans specifically for the premier of The News, The South Australian, The South
Warner Brothers’ 70mm feature My Fair Lady. Australian Gazette.
This cinema was then later demolished to make The Greater Union Story 1910 -1985 (GUS)
way for the new Greater Union Cosmopolitan Cinemas of Australia via USA. R. Thorne (COA)
Cinemas, which opened with both the former DN – ‘The First Sixty Years 5DN 972’
Wests and Metro buildings (Hindley Cinemas *Lance Jones
1-4 and 5&6) empty and on the market ‘For Sale’ ASO – Adelaide Symphony Orchestra
- and neither on any heritage register!
Article text copyright of Jeffrey Wheare (2012) from his up-
For a while Wests theatre remained empty coming book about Wests Theatre, Adelaide.
and closed but from Wednesday 30 March
th
1994 the Meridian Time Zone (game
machines) occupied the building- however
this closed in May 2001.

In October 2001 after an expensive refit,
the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra moved
in. Wests has recently been listed on the
Adelaide City Council’s Heritage Register
but more importantly (and after the building
sold to George Kambitsis), the foyer was
restored and the auditorium expensively
refurbished for sound recording.

CINEM AREC ORD 2012 29