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Uploaded on: September 25, 2024

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Cambridge Library takes us back to 1980 when a fire gutted the old Wembley Picture Theatre.

The Wembley Picture Theatre and Wembley Picture Gardens opened on the corner of Cambridge Street and Station Street in 1937. The Wembley Picture Theatre and Gardens was designed by architect Frank Coote and constructed for Mr Alexander.

The picture garden was located to the west of the cinema building. The Wembley Picture Theatre could seat 1,000 patrons and comprised an upstairs gallery, projection room and an interior lavishly decorated with plaster scrolls designed to cleverly conceal windows that could be opened on hot nights.

The adjacent Picture Gardens had a capacity of 500 with seating in canvas deck chairs. Cameo Picture Gardens later opened further west on the corner of Pangbourne Street and Cambridge Street. There was also a picture theatre in West Leederville near the intersection with Kimberley Street. In 1961 the Wembley Picture Theatre was renovated and became Wembley Lodge, with the adjacent picture gardens being demolished in 1962.

A fire in 1980 wreaked extensive damage on Wembley Lodge, but it was subsequently rebuilt. Only the façade of the original Picture Theatre remains. These images show some of the fire damage.

Contributed by Greg Lynch -