NRS-15318-2-[17-3272]-439 Capital Theatre Tamworth - Flipbook - Page 2
Another piece of the Slate's
heritage has gone. Rodney
Sheaves reports on the
demolition by dawn's early
light of Tamworth's Capitol
Theatre
Tarnworth 's historic Capitol Theatre has gone. The
`theatre beautiful' was built in 1927 and was one of
the twentieth century buildings of significance in
northern NSW. In circumstances redolent of the
destruction of the Bellevue Hotel in Brisbane, the
dawn on Monday 5
bulldozers moved in
November, to demolish e theatre in a pre •pitate
and secretive fashion.
The Capitol was bui n 1927 by architec liar
Bohringer who wa responsible for rn• y
known cinemas, i uding the Embass an
). It
Century in Sydne both now
d cinema,
ea
designed and used
and, with a seating of almost 2000, was t e premier
theatre in New.England. The Capitol was typical of
the 1920s picture-palace style. It included a huge
ornamental dome over the dress circle,
proscenium of gargantuan proportions, a
balustrade of local red cedar and finely restrained
tol
its day the
decoration in classical st
was compared with th rince Edward i y ey:
today, only the egent, Stat an the
at
this
ey remain
Wintergarden in S
style.
d operated
oy
The Capitol was acqu
until 1966 when it was closed. Extraordinarily, in
the Country Music capital of Australia, ":lamworth
has no other theatres. The annual Country Music
festival is in fact held in a factory. Earlier in 1984 a
local developer who acquired the Capitol, had promoted the idea of restoring the theatre and using it
as a venue for the Country Music festival. He had
been strongly supported by the RAIA's local
regional group. The Capitol would have become,
like the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, an
appropriate home for Country Music. It would also
have restored to northern NSW a hilly equipped
theatre for use by other groups.
This imaginative proposal fbundered on financial
grounds. Although tentative financial proposals
were still being explored, the City Council, at a
secret meeting, voted to purchase the site of the
Capitol, provided the property was first cleared by the then
owner. The Council thus connived in the demolition
n
)'
f Tamworth's herita
an
epr
vi by RAI.
ust
d the N
we
Hornshaw
orse example of s iortd be h
behaviour. Tamworth has lost a
si
ecious part of its heritage and is still without a
venue for its Country Music festival ur any other
cultural activity. Northern NSW is still without a
large theatre for live productions.
RAIA NSW Chapter President, Kevin Rice, wrote
to the Mayor admonishing the Council for its role
in this shabby exercise. The RAIA ha • _artier
re.
the t
mended the p osed adapt've re-us
f the
ptati
,essful
that the
nted
PWD • ces h show
onvent
ica
uld . cycle
dings .1 amwor
colic
ity
ente
also
buildings reflecting the architectural styles of its
history. What distinguishes one city from another ig
the quality of its build environment. Tamworth
contains a number of fine buildings which together
give the city its character.
These are listed on the National Trust's Register
and on the RAIA Register of Twentieth-Century
Buildings of Significance. If the city is to retain its
special quality and is not to become indistinguishable from any other, then the Council
must fulfil its duty as custodian to protect the public
patrimony, so that future generations of
Australians will be able to enjoy Tamworth's
heritage, which is part of the nation's heritage'.
To date these comments have elicited no response,
perhaps out of a decent sense of shame.*
die
ere!
suc
ltered im
world's co
extile wallco
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