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COMEDY THEATRE
228-240 EXHIBITION STREET MELBOURNE, MELBOURNE CITY

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Victorian Heritage Inventory
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Statement of Significance

This place is included on the Victorian Heritage Inventory, for its potential to contain historical archaeological remains associated with the settlement and growth of early Melbourne. Under the terms of the Heritage Act 2017 there is protection for all historical archaeology sites and objects in the state.

Please visit the Heritage Victoria website to find out more about the Heritage Inventory.

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    • History

      COMEDY THEATRE - History

      Heritage Inventory History of Site: Date of first documented occupation, 1850

      Heritage Inventory Description

      COMEDY THEATRE - Heritage Inventory Description

      1850 map - Circus. Site of Rowes Circus 1852-54 and then 1854/5 the Olympic Theatre (Coppin's "Iron Pot", a prefabricated cast iron theatre manufactured in Manchester & imported).1890s Australian Hippodrome operating on the site.1888 map - 2 x 1 storey buildings (Cohen Bros, Furniture Warehouse).1905 - site vacant.

      Heritage Inventory Significance: SOURCE: NOTABLE BUILDING CITATION (AM425):THE COMEDY THEATRE WAS BUILT IN 1928 FOR J C WILLIAMSON TO A DESIGN BY A H WALKLEY AND C N HOLLINSHEAD, ARCHITECTS IN ASSOCIATION. IT WAS BUILT IN AN ERA WHEN LIVE THEATRE WAS EXPERIENCING A BOOM GENERATED BY THE ADVENT OF THE AMERICAN MUSICAL AND UNTIL THE RECENT CONSTRUCTION OF THE STATE THEATRE, IT WAS THE LAST PURPOSE-BUILT LIVE THEATRE IN MELBOURNE. THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE MUSICAL AND THE HOLLYWOOD WORLD OF FILM IS EXPRESSED IN THE SPANISH MISSION FLAVOUR OF THE DESIGN. SOURCE: MELBOURNE BACKLOG STUDY. PREPARED FOR THE AUSTRALIAN HERITAGE COMMISSION. JANUARY 1997:THE COMEDY THEATRE IS SIGNIFICANT AS A VITAL PART OF THE MELBOURNE LIVE THEATRE SCENE FROM THE TIME OF ITS CONSTRUCTION IN 1927-28. IT IS ASSOCIATED WITH THE EMERGENCE AND POPULARITY OF THE AMERICAN MUSICAL WHICH COUNTERED SOME OF THE EFFECTS OF CINEMA ON LIVE THEATRE. IT IS PART OF THE EAST END THEATRE PRECINCT OF MELBOURNE AND DIRECTLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE GIANT THEATRE COMPANY J C WILLIAMSON. (CRITERION A.4) IT IS ALSO SIGNIFICANT AS ONE OF A SMALL NUMBER OF EXAMPLES OF EXOTIC REVIVAL STYLES FROM THE 1920S, ALTHOUGH IN THIS CASE IN A LATE RENAISSANCE REVIVAL FRAMEWORK. (CRITERION B.2)

      Archeological Potential: Potential/Disturbed

Public contributions

Note: Developments may span multiple time periods
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