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THE GEELONG PALAIS ROYAL

by Richard Twentyman with research by Ian Smith

In researching the history of the Palais, much
of the information contained in this article
was gleaned from copies of correspondence
between the Department of Health and the
various owners of the Palais over the years. It
is by no means a full history of the Palais, as
there is very little confirmed documentation
available.

ocated 75 km south-west of Melbourne is
Lthe large, provincial city of Geelong, with
a current population of around 226,000. Of the
many historic entertainment buildings in
Geelong, one of the most iconic would be the
Palais Royal, located just below the highest
point of the CBD, and for which many local
residents would have very fond memories.
The Palais, as it was known, was the place to
be for its Thursday and Saturday night dances.
Correspondence between the Board of Health
The Palais story is an example of a project, and the various Palais owners over the years
possibly under-funded from the start, by is held in the Victorian Public Records Office
people lacking in business experience, or under File No. VPRS 7882P1 Unit 52, some
simply “blind-sided” by the Depression. Their of which follow:-
loss is someone's gain, and that someone was
the second owner who had the smarts to To Secretary, Board of Health, 12 May 1926:
improve and run it to its potential. (A document scrap only - the first page on the
file, and now worn to tissue paper):
In the post-television era, every form of night
entertainment seemed to suffer as “old hat”. “Herewith beg to apply for permission to
Owners of public buildings, who were also erect a building ... Geelong in accordance
ageing and less adept at sniffing out with the accompanying specifications. The
alternatives, extracted the maximum rent from roof principals, storey posts and bulk of the
their properties and ignored maintenance, Dress... are those taken of the Joy Arc (sic),
while they planned their bail out. A decrepit East (sic) Beach Geelong....”
premises is finally on the market and new
owners with new ideas try to make it work. Signed : Howard R Lawson, 59 Darling St.,
South Yarra. Architect.
Together with the existing Geelong, Regent,
and Plaza Theatres, the opening of the Corio Health must have been savvy about
Theatre gave Geelong four central cinemas, companies starting with one idea but with
so the Palais must have been on the lowest something grander in mind:
rung as far as entertainment venues were
concerned. There is evidence for this in the file. “Should the building be at any time converted
Mr FJ Slack and usherettes.
into a picture theatre, concert hall etc., an
Below: Ornately decorated loge with leadlight fittings either side. additional exit will be required from the stalls
in the centre of each side”.
12 August 1926 - Letter to Lawson:
“Rear portion of gallery, erected prior to
plans for same being dealt with by the
Commission, is far too weak to carry the
possible load on it and cannot be approved”.

(The following is the first time I have seen
Health set out their standards for weight
bearing):
“The Department checks designs on the basis
of a live load (including seats) of 112 lb./sq .ft.
and an allowable bending stress of
1,500 lb/sq ft (sic) for Oregon, and
2,000 lb/sq ft (sic) for ordinary hardwood. As
the hardwood in this case is understood to be
sound and thoroughly seasoned, an extreme
load of 2,500 lb may be allowed”.

32 CINEMARECORD # 90