CITY OPERA HOUSE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 80, Issue 243, 13 October 1937, Page 6

CITY OPERA HOUSE

RENOVATIONS COMPLETED INSPECTION MADE YESTERDAY AN IMPROVED INTERIOR The Wanganui Opera House, which was damaged by fire discovered on the morning of June 24, has been renovated and will be used to-morrow night for the first time since the outbreak. Inspection was made at the building yesterday by the Opera House Committee of the Wanganui City Council, in company with the Mayor (Mr. W. J. Rogers) and representatives of the Press. Lattice work covering the windows and ventilation points in the building have imparted a modern touch to the interior scheme of decoration. A remoulded ceiling, a modification in the curve of the dress circle and a wider and higher stage front are features of the renovation. Two curves in the circle have been removed, the straightening of the sides having made a more even sweep from centre to stage. The lighting system, which is made more effective with the chrome coloured interior, has been re modelled and altogether there is a more modern appearance to the central portion of the building. The doors of the folding type have all been modernised, particularly in regard to safety in the event of fire. From the two top flights of stairs into the dress circle, along the main aisle in the circle itself and round through the buffet lounge and ladies’ dressing room, the floor has been luxuriously carpeted. The carpeting of further aisles upstairs and down will be carried out later, that which has been done stressing how greatly the interior of a modern theatre needs such finish.

Dressing room accommodation has been improved, the rooms back stage being painted and rennovated. Each will be fitted with its own independent heating point. The front stage is three feet wider than before. The stage curtain was not damaged during the lire and has been retained, the interior colour scheme of the building tending to throw it into even more prominent relief than before. A ring of concealed lights forms a major part of the lighting system proper, the old central chandelier having been replaced with a lamp of more modern shape, while at various points in the building oblong shaped lamps are fitted close into the walls.

In design and colouring the interior is simple, but its effect is pleasing. To those who saw the building immediately after the lire and can recollect the appointments of the old interior it can readily be said that a good job of work has been done in reconditioning the structure to its present standard.

Mr. J. Siddells, chairman of the Opera House Committee, paying tribute to the expedition with which the renovation work was handled, said that other improvements would follow. The council ha%decided on renovation, using the insurance monies instead of borrowing £50,000 to build a new Town Hall. The result was that the city had an Opera House rennovated to the standard seen, at a cost of less than £4OO to the ratepayers. During past years the ratepayers had had to find a lot of money, something like £5OO a year for the last seven years. Now the council had entered into a contract with the owners of the Plaza Theatre, and while this year would not be a good one from the point of view of finance, because the Opera House had lost four to five months of a usually profitable period, he was quite confident that next year the building would be paying for itself.

The speaker complimented the works committee (under Cr. J. D. Crowley), the architect (Mr. R. G. Taiboys), the city engineer( Mr. L. F. Row) and the contractors (Messrs. Walpole and Patterson) on the promptness with which the work had been carried out. The interior decoration had been left largely to the guidance of Councillors T. L. Sperring and O. Hales, and they had done it well. Supplementing the remarks of Cr. Siddells, the Mayor paid tribute to all concerned for the prompt manner in which the renovation work had been handled. “Regarding the question of erecting a municipal building, including a municipal theatre, I think that that is a matter which should be more than steadily kept in view,” said His Worship. He considered that everything possible should be done to see a municipal building become practicable within the next few years on the Drill Hall site, thus completing the civic centre. “I am satisfied that the council has taken the right course in the meantime, that of reconditioning the present Opera House and modernising it,” Mr. Rogers added, paying tribute to the men who had worked on the renovation, and all those responsible for carrying it through.