Regent Theatre is a heritage-listed former theatre and cinema at 197 Keira Street, Wollongong, City of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by Reginald J. Magoffin with an interior by Marion Hall Best and built from 1950 to 1954. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 9 May 2005.
History
Herbert Wyndham Jones and Maurice Jones
Herbert Wyndham Jones was an important pioneer of the film exhibition industry in the Illawarra Region. Originally a storekeeper, he turned entrepreneur and by October 1930 he was leasing the Princess Theatre at Corrimal, a former boxing stadium. The Great Depression was having a major impact on the people in the Illawarra and the theatre was functioning as a Relief Centre. Jones undertook extensive repairs to the theatre in 1931 at great expense and it is concluded that "there may have been an element of civic duty in providing further opportunities for the growing numbers of unemployed to enjoy the escapism of the movies". Contrary to prevailing trends, Jones re-opened the theatre as a silent movie house but by September 1931 talkies were introduced. In mid 1931 Jones purchased the Princess Theatre for the sum of 1,400 pounds. The theatre remained in the Jones Family hands for forty-one years of its fifty-nine year life and was destroyed by fire in September 1971.
In 1933, Herbert Jones came to the rescue of the Balgownie School of Arts Committee which had faced an increasingly difficult time during the Great Depression and re-commenced film screenings in September 1933. The hall survives to the present day but film screenings ceased in April 1960.
In the early 1940s Jones commenced a regular 16mm picture show in the Miners' Reading Room in Kembla Heights and on Herbert's death in March 1943 his son Maurice continued the screenings until April 1950.
In 1938 Herbert Jones submitted a successful bid for a seven year lease for the showing of pictures at Wollongong Council's Town Hall Theatre and Council proceeded with renovations and improvements to the building designed by Crick and Furse in association with Mr & Mrs Jones.
Delays with the licensing of the theatre postponed its re-opening till October 1939. Jones introduced a number of innovations at this time - "deaf aids", emphasis on the screening of Australian productions and a preparedness to pay higher rental fees for premium films and to introduce daily matinees and extended seasons. Following his death, Herbert Jones' wife continued as the licensee of the Town Hall (Civic Theatre) until its closure in 1964.
Other innovations and technological advancements introduced by the Jones Family at the Civic Theatre were the installation of a new Western Electric sound system in 1951, the introduction of foreign-language films to the district commencing with La Ronde in 1953 and the VistaVision process in 1954 with a second large screen.
Robert Parkinson concluded "Not least, it (the Civic Theatre) allowed the Jones family to innovate for the benefit of picture goers, a technique that would be developed further at the Regent."
Regent Theatre
In 1934 Herbert Jones bought a block of land on the eastern side of Keira Street, between Crown and Market Streets, with the intention of erecting a picture theatre. In September 1935, architect Reginald John Magoffin of Sydney submitted plans to the Chief Secretary for a theatre measuring 130 feet by 84 feet behind an open courtyard itself measuring 120 feet by 40 feet. Revised plans submitted in April 1936 showed dressing rooms, fly tower, stage 45 feet by 16 feet, auditorium 70 feet by 102 feet (height 36 feet), courtyard as before, bio box at rear of circle, brick building, galvanized roof on steel trusses, and 1569 seats.