Empire Theatre
1116 Botany Road, Botany, NSW 2019Style: Spanish Colonial
There have been six picture theatres built in the district of Botany Bay over the last century:
The new 1920 Empire Theatre had a sleek Spanish style with a centre tower effect and stained-glass windows. It was an architectural highlight along with the grand old Captain Cook Hotel next door.
Five Ways Theatres, partially owned by Greater Union, took over in the 1940s. Botany was like a friendly small town and residents had good memories of life there. One woman wrote about Sher Hickey, the operator of the Empire Theatre in the 1950s, who ran an unscheduled Charlton Heston film as a favour when he found she had missed it. Don’t expect that at a multiplex today!
Chris Papandreas was the final operator who closed the Empire Theatre on 8th February 1965. The last show was Sean Connery in “Dr. No” and “The Monster That Challenged the World”. The Empire Theatre was used for storage for several years, and it was demolished in 1972. Jenny MacRichie, Heritage Librarian for the City of Botany Bay kindly provided photographs of collages made from old advertisements and including a sad shot of the half-demolished theatre.
Uploaded and in part contributed by John Gleeson johngleeson with sincere thanks.
1116 Botany Road, Botany, NSW 2019Style: Spanish Colonial
There have been six picture theatres built in the district of Botany Bay over the last century:
- Daceyville Theatre (1910, destroyed by fire in 1984)
- Ascot Theatre at Mascot (1913, destroyed by fire 1966)
- Rosebery Theatre (1913, demolished c.1960)
- the first Empire Theatre, Botany (1916, damaged and demolished 1919), the second Empire, Botany (1920, demolished 1972) and
- Marina Theatre at Rosebery, built in 1927 and which stands as the only remaining historic theatre in the former Botany Bay LGA.
The new 1920 Empire Theatre had a sleek Spanish style with a centre tower effect and stained-glass windows. It was an architectural highlight along with the grand old Captain Cook Hotel next door.
Five Ways Theatres, partially owned by Greater Union, took over in the 1940s. Botany was like a friendly small town and residents had good memories of life there. One woman wrote about Sher Hickey, the operator of the Empire Theatre in the 1950s, who ran an unscheduled Charlton Heston film as a favour when he found she had missed it. Don’t expect that at a multiplex today!
Chris Papandreas was the final operator who closed the Empire Theatre on 8th February 1965. The last show was Sean Connery in “Dr. No” and “The Monster That Challenged the World”. The Empire Theatre was used for storage for several years, and it was demolished in 1972. Jenny MacRichie, Heritage Librarian for the City of Botany Bay kindly provided photographs of collages made from old advertisements and including a sad shot of the half-demolished theatre.
Uploaded and in part contributed by John Gleeson johngleeson with sincere thanks.
Demolition of the second Empire Theatre begins in 1972. Inset: the advertised programme of the last session
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A collage of ad materials and snapshots. Photo courtesy of Jenny MacRitchie, Heritage Librarian, City of Botany Bay.
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Further information can be found here: http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/40784/photos/6616
The Empire Theatre site in 2007
Below in a Google Maps grab is the site as it looked in 2007. Note Patterson’s Florist on the left. This used to be Patterson’s Produce Store where all sorts of grains and fodder could be purchased to feed pigeons, horses and cattle from large bins along the otherwise bare walls. There were many pigeon fanciers in the area and wheat, milo, corn, pigeon peas, millet and other seeds could be purchased by the pound or the hundredweight.
Below in a Google Maps grab is the site as it looked in 2007. Note Patterson’s Florist on the left. This used to be Patterson’s Produce Store where all sorts of grains and fodder could be purchased to feed pigeons, horses and cattle from large bins along the otherwise bare walls. There were many pigeon fanciers in the area and wheat, milo, corn, pigeon peas, millet and other seeds could be purchased by the pound or the hundredweight.
The Empire Theatre site in 2022
The Empire Cinema stood next to the Captain Cook Hotel, seen above to the right. In this photograph (below left) dated 1960, the Empire Theatre can be seen to the left.
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Since 1858 the Captain Cook Hotel situated at 1114 Botany Road, Botany, has been a mainstay of the Botany community.The licence was purchased by Tooth in July 1899 and the present building was erected in 1906. It is now a heritage-listed pub with a gaming room and accommodation and operates under a 24-hour liquor licence. It has 18 gaming machines with a development application being approved for a new gaming room. Recently, it sold for $17 million in an off-market deal to local businessman Warren Livingstone.
This image is owned by the Australian National University and can be accessed here: https://openresearch-repository.anu.edu.au/handle/1885/97062?mode=ful
