Red Hill Skate Arena (former)

This part of Red Hill was surveyed and subdivided into suburban portions in the 1860s. The site on which the

Skate Arena is situated was part of portion 737, on the southern side of Enoggera Terrace at the junction with

Musgrave Road, alienated by George Mannion in 1870. Mannion Street, at the rear of the Skate Arena, is likely

to have been named after him. By the late 1880s, portion 737 had been subdivided into smaller residential

allotments. From 1889 until 1920, subdivisions 14 to 28 remained on one title, passing through several owners,

until title to subdivisions 22-27, near the intersection with Musgrave Road, was transferred to Red Hill Picture

Pops Ltd. A number of rental houses had been erected along Enoggera Terrace between Musgrave Road and

Jay Street, but it is not clear whether there were any extant buildings on the site acquired by Red Hill Picture

Pops Ltd in 1920. During this period, Enoggera Terrace continued to be a social hub of Red Hill with the Ithaca

Town Chambers, numerous shops, and other services such as halls and the police station situated along the

street.

In 1920 an open-air ‘picture palace’ was already established on Enoggera Terrace, on the opposite [northern]

side of the road, at the corner of Waterworks Road. This picture show functioned from c1912 until replaced by

Red Hill Picture Pops Ltd.’s new theatre on the other side of the road, c1920-21. In December 1920, the titles

office recorded a bill of mortgage on subdivisions 22-27, portion 737 for £1,500, taken out by Red Hill Picture

Pops Limited from The Public Curator of Queensland. It is possible this helped to finance construction of the new

theatre, which is first listed in the Post Office street directories in 1921.

 

A c1924 photograph shows the Red Hill Picture Pops theatre as a large, gable-roofed structure with full length

ridge ventilator and a modest façade, on a prominent location on Enoggera Terrace. By March 1925, at least part

of the theatre was of brick construction, the western brick wall of the theatre suffering damage from water

running off the adjacent Red Hill Police Station site at the corner of Musgrave Road and Enoggera Terrace. In

late 1927, the front of the theatre was remodelled at a cost of £380, with the addition of shops. Plans were

prepared by Brisbane architect RT Erskine, and the contractor was W Tinnerman.

 

A c1932 sewerage detail plan indicates that the structure occupied the whole of subdivisions 24-27, with the

walls erected to the perimeter. This plan also indicates the buttresses located on subdivisions 22 and 23, along

the western side of the theatre, where the land falls steeply.

Through the 1920s and into the early 1930s, Alfred [Bertie] E Moore was secretary of Red Hill Picture Pops Ltd.

and manager of the theatre. The Moore family lived on Waterworks Road, initially just past Church Street from

c1907-c1911, moving to the corner of Waterworks Road and Enoggera Terrace c1911/12 - about the same time

the open-air picture theatre was established next door on Enoggera Terrace. It is likely Bertie Moore was

associated with this first picture theatre as well as the c1920 hardtop. Long-time residents of Red Hill have

recalled that in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Mrs Moore sold the theatre tickets from an island ticket box in the

front foyer. For the evening shows, Bertie Moore always wore a dinner suit and his wife an evening gown with a

fresh rose pinned on the shoulder. Apparently they kept a tight rein on their often unruly audiences, and a slogan

in the foyer read: If you like the program tell your friends, if you do not like it, tell us.

By June 1930, ‘talkie apparatus’ had been installed at the Pops Picture Theatre on Enoggera Terrace. Following

the release of Warner Brother’s first talking picture, The Jazz Singer, in 1927, cinemas world-wide either

converted to sound or closed down. Sound projection leasing or purchasing arrangements were often

exorbitantly high, and many Queensland suburban and rural exhibitors who committed themselves to very

expensive sound projection plant at this period, over capitalised, were burdened with running costs, and did not

survive the economic depression of the early 1930s.

There were approximately 200 picture theatres in Queensland in the 1930s, of which 54, or about 25%, were

located in Brisbane. This was the period when most Brisbane suburbs had at least one picture theatre, if not

more, and competition for audiences was strong. The Red Hill Picture Pops’ closest competitors were the Plaza

Theatre on Latrobe Terrace [opened c1930] and Stephens’ New Paddington Theatre, erected on Given Terrace

c1924.

In 1931 Red Hill Picture Pops Ltd, possibly struggling to survive the depression and the costs of sound

installation, or perhaps renovating the building, took out a second mortgage on the theatre from Richard Francis

Stephens, who was associated with the Stephens-Munro chain of suburban theatres on Brisbane’s north side.

Stephens- Munro ultimately acquired six theatres - the Astor at New Farm, the Imperial at Lutwyche, the Savoy

at Clayfield, the Paddington on Given Terrace, the Arcadia at Ascot, and the Jubilee at Toowong - and

subsidised other small suburban exhibitors like the Red Hill Picture Pops. It is possible the connection with RF

Stephens gave Red Hill Picture Pops Ltd greater bargaining status at the major film distributors’ Brisbane film

exchanges.

In November 1934, the Red Hill Picture Pops theatre was leased to William Edward Kirby, who eventually gained

title to the property early in 1944. Kirby had changed the name of the place to The State Theatre by 1937, and by

1938 the theatre had a seating capacity of 640. In 1948 title passed to State Theatres Pty Ltd, with Kirby still the

exhibitor, and renovations were undertaken in 1950. In 1951, State Theatres Pty Ltd sold subdivisions 22 and

23, the two vacant blocks along the western side of the theatre, with a 1952 easement in their favour over a strip

of this land adjoining the theatre.

In 1954 title to the property passed briefly to Christopher James Sourris and his wife Effie - [the Sourris family

has been connected with other suburban theatres in Brisbane] - but they sold within months to George Londy

and his wife Velio. In 1955, Velio Londy transferred her interest in the property to John Sklavos. With the

introduction of television to Brisbane in the late 1950s, cinema audiences declined rapidly. Many cinemas

installed wide cinemascope screens in an attempt to attract audiences back to the picture theatres, but suburban

 

cinemas struggled to continue screening films and in the 1960s and 1970s many closed, the buildings converted into alternative uses or the sites redeveloped. By the 1980s, only a handful of single-screen interwar suburban cinemas survived in Brisbane.In an attempt to retain audiences, Londy and Sklavos renovated The State Theatre in 1958, installing a cinemascope screen, a new ceiling, and decorative sound boards along the sides. By 1960, the seating capacity at The State Theatre had increased to 1000.Films continued to be screened at the State into the early 1960s, but in January 1964 the theatre was acquired by David and Shirley Venables, who converted it into a ‘sound lounge’ known as Teen City. Many of Australia’s most popular rock and roll stars played at Teen City, including Little Pattie, Col Joy, and the BeeGees, but the venture ceased within a couple of years. In 1965 the place was converted into the Red Hill Skate Arena. The floor to the rink was constructed of timber and Masonite initially - later a concrete floor was laid. As with the picture theatres which struggled to survive the impact of television in the 1960s, new recreational activities - especially skateboarding and rollerblading made popular in the late 20th century - are eroding the popularity of indoor skating. While still operating as a skating rink, the future of the Red Hill Skate Arena remains uncertain.

 

**Brisbane Heritage Registry**

Done