Regent Theatre
167 Queen Street,
Brisbane,
QLD
4000
167 Queen Street,
Brisbane,
QLD
4000
9 people
favorited this theater
Showing 26 - 37 of 37 comments
OOOoops, I messed up on the 3rd from bottom link:
View link
Here are some current views of the Gothic foyer, all that remains internally of the the original magnificent Regent Theatre, Brisbane:
View link
View link
View link
View link
View link
View link
View link
Mark, I have emailed you regards to the Brisbane Regent. Would like please repond.
Regards Paul
paulb
if you read this could you please contact me email sunsmart @picknowl.com.au in reference to the Sydney Regent
Regards Paul N
South Aust
sp2 I would love scans of your photos. If this is at all possible please let me know. I have collected as many pictures of the interior as I can, but most are very poor quality. They are not for a website, just for memories sake, I’m a Queenslander. .au
I was fortunate in the 1960’s to have a private view of the Regent before opening time one Saturday and managed to get a folio of good colour pictures of the interior- Gothic foyer, upstairs mezzanine lounge and of course the auditorium.
I had moved abroard by the time of the wrecking of the auditorium so thankfully only have memories of how wonderful it used to be!
I understand it is the only surviver of the city movie theatres, albeit in a reduced way, too bad it could not have been preserved as is the case with the Melbourne Regent.
The Regent Theatre Brisbane, was always my favourite cinema. I saw many films there during the 60’s and 70’s, often just for the chance to sit in such a grand Palace for 2 hours. It’s demolition in 1980 by the Dean Brothers is Brisbane’s greatest architectural loss. Even though the foyer has survived, it only helps to remind one of what was once beyond that staircase. Within a few years of the Regent’s “conversion”, the rest of Brisbane’s Picture Palace theatres were gone, “Her Majesty’s” (originally the Brisbane Opera House built 1886) destroyed to make way for a shopping centre, The Wintergarden theatre, The George, all gone. After this incredible mayhem of destruction, Brisbane was left without any major theatres, with the resurgence of stage musicals, a Government structure, resembling a huge concrete shoebox was built to replace the amazing structures that had once graced Brisbane’s streets.
The proscenium of the Plaza Theatre,Laurieton.(north coast of N.S.W.)has utilised salvaged elements from the Regent,Brisbane. The plaques in the proscenium which depict Roman scenes,came originally from the great ceiling dome of the Regent Theatre.
I was once an employee of the Regent,Brisbane. I worked there in projection over 30 years ago. I have many happy memories of the place and I have not bothered much after it was bastardised in 1980.
At least that did keep the foyers. The incident with the shotgun took place in the early 1970’s I think.
The Regent theatre seated 2,583 and was designed by Charles Hollinshead,with Aaron Bolot and Richrd Gailey. It was one of Australia’s grandest theatres.
BRISBANE REGENT WURLITZER GOES BACK TO BRISBANE !!!
The 3 manual 15 rank Wurlitzer organ which was housed in the Brisbane Regent theatre from 1929 to 1964,is being returned to that city. It is apparently being installed in a new arts complex on Brisbane’s Southbank. The organ was sold in 1964 to the late Dr. King of Lawson.(N.S.W.). Dr. King passed away in September,2002 and the organ was sold and removed from the home in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney. The organ is in remarkable condition.
It would be; the mural was the original from the 20s and cleaned for the ‘revovation’. It wasn’t ever altered, just steam cleaned. Maybe this person was not happy about the changes, or had realised the key to helping was vandalism.
Sometime in the early eighties a man let off many rounds from a shotgun in the foyer. A worker was injured i beleive. there are still bullet holes in the ceiling mural to this day. Wheather it is the original mural or not i am not sure.
The demented bastardisation of this astonishing gothic wonder in 1978 was a head shaking event second only to the Sydney Regent demolition. this Brisbane Regent was the second most spectacular of all The Regents, so of course it had to be ruined. I saw ROLLERBALL there in late 1975. It had cane backed seats for cool comfort. The foyer which thankfully survived the idiotic ‘fixing’ is still today an awesome sight to encounter and is similar to the gorgeous Melbourne Regent – the best of them all and lovingly operated as a live venue. At the time just before the Brisbane auditorium demolition, there was even press pieces about how the wreckers came in during the night awith chainsaws and vandalised the interior to such an extent, the ‘developers’ claimed it was now past saving !! One photo showed some galoot with his chainsaw hacking his way gleeefully through the side balconies, reducing pristing gothic decor to chips. Later I saw JEWEL OF THE NILE or something in one of the new cinemas which of course looked like a supermarket with seats. The one 400 seat cinema kept in the Regent style is an insult to the glorious and very useful 2600 seat masterpiece that was there. Paul Brennan .au