DE LUXE THEATRE

Dominion, Volume 16, Issue 178, 16 April 1923, Page 4

DE LUXE THEATRE

TENDER FOR NEW BUILDING ACCEPTED KING’S AND QUEEN’S CHANGE HANDS

The tender of Mr. W. Williamson, of Christchurch, has been accepted for the construction of a new theatre at the corner of Lower Kent Terrace and Majoribanks Street for the Do Luxe Theatre Company, Ltd., of Wellington. The contract price is about £45,000. The construction of this theatre, for which Mr. Llewellyn Williams is the architect, necessitates the demolition of five shops and dwellings facing Kent Terrace (opposite the eastern end) and three private residences facin'' Majoribanks Street. The latter have already been razed to the ground, clearing tho area at the back, so that the contractors will be able to commence work at once. The shops on the Kent Terrace frontage will all disappear within: the next two weeks. The new theatre, the erection of which is going to effect a marked change in the aspect of the end of Courtenay Place, will be a solid steelframed building, with reinforced concrete fillings. The block will have a frontage of 99ft. to Kent Terrace and one of 170 ft. to Majoribanks Street. The facade in Kent Terrace, to be finished in white cement,, will be three storeys high. There will be ,a central entrance 30ft. in width and on either side a large shop. The first and second floors will be subdivided into offices and business apartments. Three shops will be provided on the Majoribanks Street frontage. The main entrance will be tiled underfoot, whilst the sides will be panelled in Queensland maple and oak, and the stairway will bo of picked marble. The theatre will have but'iqne gallery—a dress circle —which will seat about 800 people. The ground floor will seat 1000. All the seats will be automatic “tip-ups” nicely sprung, whilst 170 club seats (upholstered like an arm chair) are to be provided in selected spots. A full view of the screen will be obtained from every seat in the theatre. Instead of boxes near the proscenium, spaces will be provided for scenic elaboration in keeping with the spirit and character of the picture being exhibited, whilst ample room will be provided on the stage for the enactment of prologues. The. orchestral well will be large enough to accommodate some twenty players. Special lighting and ventilating schemes will make the new theatre second to mono ih New Zealand. ■ Tho stage is not being equipped for dramatic or spectacular performances. The walls of the building on the street frontages are to be sufficiently massive to take an extra story should the need for such ever arise. .. The De Luxe Theatre Company has taken over the King’s Theatre, (in Dixon Street) and the Queen’s Theatre (in Cuba Street), which will give ,it a very strong position from the exhibitors’ end of the business.