Hoyts Esquire Theatre

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Hoyts De Luxe Theatre 238 Bourke Street, Melbourne, VIC - 1929

Photo 1929 : Ross Thorne - Picture Palace Architecture in Australia

Built on the site of the St. George’s Hall which had become Hoyts Picture Theatre in 1912. The Hoyts De Luxe Theatre opened on 27th March 1915 and only showed films, and like many other Melbourne Cinemas had a Wurlitzer organ. Melbourne’s De Luxe Theatre had the distinction of having housed three pipe organs.

The De Luxe initially housed a photo-player, then a seven-rank Wurlitzer. This was a two-manual, seven-rank Style 185 instrument. It was installed in the De Luxe, on one side of the proscenium, behind a dummy façade of diapason pipes, with a matching façade on the other side. The De Luxe was the only theatre in Australia to feature display pipes in the auditorium. The console was on a raised platform at the left-hand side of the auditorium, beneath the display pipes. (refer to the photo)

The organ was inaugurated on 12 June, 1922, by Horace Weber: - The third organ to be installed at Hoyts De Luxe Theatre was an eight-rank Christie (Opus 2720) This was utilized for a short period and was the last organ to be installed in any Melbourne theatre until the 1960s.

Contributed by Greg Lynch -