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Australia Twin Theatre 272 Collins Street, Melbourne, VIC

Hotel Australia (since demolished) 262 Collins Street Melbourne - By Susan Pate.

When the second Hotel Australia opened in 1939, its management was keen to maintain a historic link to some of the buildings that had preceded it: the Tatler theatre; the Vienna Cafe; and the [old] Cafe/Hotel Australia, as well as several persons associated with the site.

The lower ground floor of Melbourne’s newest luxury hotel contained two theatres (the Tatler Newsreel theatre and a picture theatre), a grill and several bars. On the ground floor, an arcade containing 42 shops ran the depth of the block to Little Collins Streets and provided pedestrian access through to Bourke Street via the Causeway. A black and white marble staircase in the centre of the hotel’s arcade entrance provided access to its lofty lobby on first floor where the [new] Vienna Cafe and a dining room that paid homage to Walter Burley Griffin could also be found. Griffin had designed the barrel-vaulted dining room in the original Hotel Australia.

One of the hotel’s more unusual features was the Cantala Room. This space was the reconstruction of part of “Cantala”, the East St Kilda home of late racing identity, Mr Septimus Miller. Miller had owned part of the site on which the hotel was built. As his mansion was slated for demolition, parts of it were salvaged to create the reception room.

The Hotel cost nearly £600,000 to build and contained 120 rooms. It reached the maximum permissible height of 132 feet. The lower three stories of its elegant Art Deco facade were faced with a two inch thick ceramic veneer. The rest of the hotel’s frontage was clad in pale faience with green surrounds to its white sash windows. The building’s architect was Leslie M. Perrott & Partners. The second Hotel Australia welcomed guests for half a century. It was demolished in 1989 - By Susan Pate

When The Tatler newsreel theatre was no longer viable it became Australia Cinema Two and the complex became a twin.

Contributed by Greg Lynch -