Theatre in Collins Street, Melbourne, opened as Melbourne Mechanics' Institute and Hall of Arts 1843. Rebuilt in 1885-86 and renamed Athenaeum Hall. Rebuilt as 880-seat, three-level Athenaeum Theatre, designed by Henry E. White for Frank Talbot, 1922-24. Used as cinema 1929-70 and 1970-77. Includes small hall converted to 100-seat Athenaeum 2 studio theatre in 1977 and to150-seat end-stage theatre in 1987.
A few master builders in embryonic Melbourne formed a mechanics' institute on 4 October 1839. The institute erected a two-storeyed building in Collins Street on a 19.8 metre-wide block extending to Little Collins Street. It had a library and reading room downstairs and a 'hall of arts’ upstairs, where the town council met and lectures were
given. The present hall was built in 1872 on the vacant, rear half of the site to house concerts and occasional theatricals.
After major rebuilding on the front portion in 1885-86, the Mechanics' Institute building was renamed the Athenaeum Hall. Like any institutional or town hall, it had an end stage and a small gallery at the opposite end. A smaller hall was on the top floor in the three-storey front section of the building. In 1882 the Athenaeum Hall became one of
the first public spaces connected to electricity.
In 1924 Henry E. White completed alterations to produce a Bijou-style drama theatre with fly-tower stage, stalls, circle and gallery. White used his current Adam style of decoration, but in a more austere manner than in his larger theatres. After five years of plays the Athenaeum Theatre
began showing films with Al Jolson's The Jazz Singer.
There was an interlude of live drama for six months in 1970 but the theatre did not permanently return to it, origins until the Melbourne Theatre Company took over in 1977. The company at first presented classics in the theatre. Then it modified the small hall at the front of the building to make a studio theatre, Athenaeum 2. After the Melbourne Theatre Company moved to the new Victorian Arts Centre in 1984, Athenaeum 1 continued as a live theatre, beginning a new era which included its lo running show, Wogs Out of Work. In 1987 the lessees Elston, Hocking and Woods, refurbished Athenaeum 2 as an end-stage theatre. In 1991 the remainder of the building was refurbished as a heritage conservation project, with larger foyer and bar spaces, and restored auditorium. It reopened with a revival of Hair.
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