Lindfield Kings Theatre
376 Pacific Highway,
Sydney,
NSW
2070
376 Pacific Highway,
Sydney,
NSW
2070
1 person
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Located in the Lindfield district of Sydney on Pacific Highway at the corner on Balfour Street. The Lindfield Theatre was opened as a live theatre in May 1926, designed by architect C. Reynolds Winter. Seating was provided in stalls, and circle, with a row of mezzanine boxes between. In 1927, the mezzanine boxes were removed, but some side boxes were retained. The seating capacity was given as 696. Films were being screened from September 1936.
The building was taken over by the small Kings Circuit in April 1938, and was extensively remodeled, to the plans of architectural firm Crick & Furse. Seating was now provided for 1,850 in stalls, dress circle and upper circle levels. It was opened on 2nd July 1938 with Joel McCrea in “Wells Fargo” and Edward G. Robinson in “The Last Gangster”.
The Kings Theatre was taken over by the Greater Union Theatres chain in 1946. There was talk of converting it into an ice rink in 1961, but these plans came to nothing. In the early hours of 27th October 1967, a fire broke out, destroying the stage and proscenium. The licence was not renewed, and the Kings Theatre never re-opened. The building was demolished in 1969 and a Coles supermarket now stands on the site.
Contributed by
john gleeson, Ken Roe
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Nearby theatres include those in Roseville, Chatswood and Gordon.
The Lindfield Theatre was built by Harold Hosking of Newcastle Steel Works. Ownership of the theatre changed hands many times over the years and passed to the Kings Theatre Circuit in 1938. At that time the theatre became known as Kings Theatre. The theatre was purchased by A. Beszant in 1947 and was renovated in 1953. When I was a kid, growing up on Sydney’s Upper North Shore in the 1960s, I saw many films at the Lindfield Kings including the Australian film They Found a Cave, McHale’s Navy Joins the Air Force, and Ride the Wide Surf (with Fabian, Tab Hunter and Australia’s Murray Rose).
In 1938 there was an extensive remodelling of the theatre. The ceiling and walls were relined with decorative, moulded fibrous plaster and the mezzanine was extended forward to enlarge seating capacity. The grilles over the side walls' ventilation openings were said to be like spinning catherine wheels with illuminated centres. Three vertical troughs of coloured light were set in the side walls and continued across the ceiling in front of the proscenium. The indirectly lit ceiling centre stretched from the rear of the top gallery and finished in a semi-circle in which there was a smaller circle of plaster finished with a glass and chrome surface light. Over 2000 feet of neon tubing was reported to have been used in the auditorium. The ceiling was lowered and the vestibules and foyers were redesigned, enlarged and extensively remodelled in the latest ‘modernistic’ style (including horizontal ‘speed’ lines spaced along the textured walls. The facade was also modernised. Although largely Art Deco in design post-remodelling, there were also strong Expressionist motifs (eg the indirectly lit central section of the ceiling, the horizontal banding leading the eye to the stage, and the semi-circular corner facade and curved parapet enhanced by the use of vertical lines). (Source: R Thorne & K Cork, For All the Kings Men: The Kings Theatres of Sydney, NSW (Campbelltown NSW: Australian Theatre Historical Society Inc, 1994), p75.)