Roxy Cinema

In central Auckland a two-storey building fronting Queen Street and a warehouse at the rear, facing onto Fort Lane, both built around 1860-1880, were remodelled, and linked, in 1886 by Christopher Greenway. They were then let to auctioneer Gabriel Lewis, who opened the Arcade Auction Rooms. A fire in March 1887 damaged, and possibly destroyed, the rear building. After restoration the combined property consisted of a showroom at the rear and shops at the front, with offices above.

In 1915 Gaiety Theatres Ltd. outlined plans, by architects Grierson and Aimer, to convert the buildings into a theatre. Everybody’s Theatre, with seating for 700-800, opened in September 1915. A novel feature, at the time, was seating that allowed two people to sit together without an armrest separating them. It is not clear whether live shows were presented alongside the film shows.

During the First World War, for two months, a lease was granted to the Civic League for tea rooms to be operated, to raise funds for the families of soldiers serving overseas.

During the 1920’s Everybody’s Theatre was acquired by Thomas O'Brien (of Civic Theatre fame: see separate Cinema Treasures entry). With the advent of the talkies, he closed the theatre in 1928.

The large space was remodelled once again, this time to accommodate a Woolworth’s store, which opened in 1929. However, a fire in 1934 resulted in the store moving next door, to Imperial Buildings; Amalgamated Theatres then moved in. Founded by Auckland businessmen J. P. and M. J. Moodabe, Amalgamated created the Roxy Cinema, to plans by architect George Tole, and also established their head office in the building.

But Woolworths bought the building back in 1955, and removed the party wall between it and their store in Imperial Buildings. The enlarged store opened just in time for Christmas in 1960. Innovations included a coffee lounge and chicken rotisserie, air conditioning (said to have been the first for a retail store in Auckland) and a conveyor system to access storage at the rear that was also considered to be among the first of its type in the country.

The buildings were sold to property company AMP in 1960, although Woolworths (NZ) Ltd. retained a 40-year lease and undertook extensive renovations in 1983. Upmarket retailers such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton have since occupied the Queen Street frontage, reflecting that thoroughfare’s late twentieth-century resurgence as the main shopping area.

In 2009 the former cinema auditorium was converted into a bar, accessed from Fort Lane, appropriately called Everybody’s. A nightclub, again appropriately named the Roxy, opened on the ground floor beneath Everybody’s. Both closed on 20th February 2024 after their owner, Leh1 Ltd., went into liquidation. However, internal decorative elements from the bar’s time as a picture palace can still be seen through the part-glazed rear wall of the former cinema, accessed from a rear courtyard.

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