Page 29 - CinemaRecord #79

Rear of Joy Ark Pictures. Below: Ads from December 1915.

After the opening of the Geelong Theatre in
1913, and the Sun Theatre in 1914, patronage
at the Joy Ark dropped to the point where
the building was converted into a dance hall,
opening on July 27 1914, remaining popular
until 1925, when it finally closed and became
a wool store.

It was demolished shortly after, and it was
widely rumoured that all of the building was
relocated and re-erected as the Palais Theatre
in Moorabool Street. More recent records show
that it was only a number of steel columns and
girders which became part of the Palais.

Interestingly, during a recent visit to the Palais
in 2013, the author was told by the present owner
that a termite control contractor who recently
inspected the stumps beneath the floor of the
Palais, had found that they were encrusted with
barnacles, leading to the assumption that they
had actually been driven into the seabed beneath
the Joy Ark. More about the Palais later.

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