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TIVOLI THEATRE AND ROOF GARDEN THEATRE, BRISBANE

by Les Tod

he Tivoli Theatre and Roof Garden
TTheatre were located in Albert Street,
directly opposite the City Hall. They were
unique, being one of only two theatre buildings
in Australia where the two were built one atop
the other. (The other location was the Regent
and Plaza in Melbourne). However, the Tivoli
was much older than its Melbourne counterpart
and was actually built before the City Hall.
The concept of a roof garden theatre was
developed by a New York entrepreneur,
Rudolph Aronson, in 1881-3. He was taken by
the summer concert gardens of Europe and the
use of steel building materials, and the
invention of the elevator made such a concept
of one theatre above another possible.

In 1883, he opened his Casino Theatre,
complete with gardens, shrubs, flowers and
rustic seats. This was quickly followed by the
New York Olympia, built for Oscar
Hammerstein. The move towards more
sophisticated and elaborate roof garden theatres
culminated in 1903 with the New Amsterdam
Theatre in New York, which housed two
substantial proscenium arch theatres with
cantilevered balconies.

In Australia, noted vaudeville entrepreneur
Harry Rickards was looking to extend his
Tivoli circuit and chose a site in Albert Street,
Brisbane. The Governing Director was
Hugh D McIntosh and the theatre manager
Roy Purves. The opening programme was The
Tivoli Follies, featuring 44 performers, with an
orchestra headed by Harry Jacobs.

The Tivoli and its Roof Garden Theatre were
opened on Saturday 15 May 1915. The Mayor
of Brisbane performed the opening ceremony Roof Garden Theatre was opened on the same in a Spanish Mission style. Flights of stairs or
on behalf of entrepreneur Hugh D McIntosh. It night, also with a vaudeville programme. an elevator took patrons to the roof theatre.
was said that the theatre was a notable addition Sections of the side walls of the Roof Garden
to the city. The architect, Henry E White, was The Tivoli Theatre was a three level theatre, Theatre could be removed to take advantage
also present at the opening ceremony. The but the Roof Garden was one raked level only of the warm weather. The exterior of the
building featured art nouveau embellishments;
the circular rings on the facade which puzzled
people in later years were actually the centre of
light fittings which “beamed” outwards in
sequence. The exterior was an adaptation of
Spanish Mission style. The theatre featured an
outdoor smoking terrace above the awning,
accessed from the lounge foyer. Over the years
to follow, the Tivoli would be a much-loved
icon of Brisbane entertainment, both filmed and
vaudeville.
The Salon magazine reported, “The window
sills are decorated with flower boxes in truly
Spanish style. The heavily enriched cornice,
which projects over six feet, is constructed with
heavy sheet metal. The soffit of the cornice is
richly panelled, each panel has a central floral
pateras from which depends an electric bulb.
The top of the cornice is covered with specially
burnt Spanish styles; the Spanish Pergola
treatment upon the main cornice forms the front
of the Roof Garden Theatre. There are four
King George Square and the Tivoli Theatre, 1948 private boxes on each side of the proscenium,

6 CINEMARECORD # 96