Regent Theatre, Brisbane

The Regent Theatre here in Brisbane was the first and only American-style picture palace built in Queensland. It was designed to reflect the grandeur of the Hollywood era and was one of many operated by Hoyts across Australia. Other Regent Cinemas included the one in George Street, Sydney, which is now demolished, and the one on Rundle Mall in Adelaide, which is now a shopping mall. The Regent Melbourne on Collins Street was restored in the 1990s and is now a successful live theatre.

The Regent in Brisbane was designed by Melbourne architect Charles N. Hollinshed, with help from local Brisbane architects Richard Gailey Junior and Aaron Bolot. Construction started in 1928 and finished in 1929, costing £300,000. It opened on November 8th, 1929, with the first feature presentation being *Fox Movietone Follies of 1929*.

This building, the Regent Building, was part of the original Regent Theatre complex, built between Queen Street and Elizabeth Street. It included a basement, four levels of tenancies at 167 Queen Street, and two street-level shops, plus the ornate entrance hall and grand foyer that led into the original 2500-seat theatre. The office building was completed in late 1928 and tenanted from April 1929, but the theatre itself opened later in November.

In the late 1970s, the building was redeveloped. The original 2500-seat theatre space was converted into four cinemas, opening in 1980 as the Hoyts Entertainment Centre. This redevelopment kept the four levels of tenancies, the basement, the two street-level shops, and the entrance hall and grand foyer. One of the new cinemas, the Showcase Theatre, was built on the lower level to recall the design of the original Regent Theatre, and its vestibule was a reconstruction of the original mezzanine-level vestibule. The entertainment centre closed for further redevelopment in June 2010.

This location, between Albert and Edward Streets on Queen Street, was part of Brisbane's central shopping, business, and entertainment precinct. The theatre's layout was determined by the shape of the land parcels it was built on. The narrow Queen Street lot held the entrance hall and grand foyer, giving the theatre a prestigious address, while the auditorium was built on the broader Elizabeth Street side. The land for the Queen Street section was acquired by Patrick Mayne in the 1850s, and later passed to his children. The Elizabeth Street lots, where the theatre was built, also included land acquired by Patrick Mayne, and two additional lots purchased by J. C. Williamson in 1928, which were then transferred to Hoyts Theatres Ltd in 1929. The Mayne children leased the Elizabeth Street land to Capitol Theatres Ltd for 50 years starting in 1927, and this lease was transferred to Hoyts in 1932. After James and Mary Mayne died, their estate was left to the University of Queensland.

Approval to build this lavish theatre, which would accommodate opera, vaudeville, and films, was granted by the Brisbane City Council in 1926, when "picture palaces" were becoming popular globally.