Palais Theatre
| Palais Picture Theatre | |
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| Address |
St Kilda Melbourne Australia |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 37°52′3.4″S 144°58′33.5″E / 37.867611°S 144.975972°ECoordinates: 37°52′3.4″S 144°58′33.5″E / 37.867611°S 144.975972°E |
| Designation | Victorian Heritage Register |
| Type | Live Music, Theatre, Ballet, Film |
| Capacity | 2,896 on 2 levels |
| Construction | |
| Opened | 11 November 1927 |
| Architect | Henry E. White, Walter Burley Griffin |
| Website | |
| www |
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The Palais Theatre is a concert venue and theatre located in the Melbourne inner suburb of St Kilda. With a capacity of 2,896 people, it is the largest seated theatre in Australia.
The former cinema, which retains many of its original features, is considered one of the finest examples of Art deco architecture in the country and is included on the Victorian Heritage Register.
There have been several theatres named "Palais" in St Kilda, the first of which opened in 1914. At the end of World War I, the Palais de Danse, already on the current site, became the Palais Pictures. In 1919, a steel-framed and arched truss structure was built over the old dance-hall which was relocated next door, to the north. The current Palais is situated by Port Phillip Bay, facing the Lower Esplanade, and is part of a turn-of-the-century entertainment district.
The theatre was originally owned by the Phillips brothers (Leon, Herman and Harold), three American showmen from Spokane, Washington. Arriving in Australia prior to the First World War, Leon Phillips joined forces with fellow American James Dixon Williams. After establishing a chain of upmarket and highly successful cinemas around the nation together with a major film exchange business, the pair moved into the area of outdoor amusements with the construction of Luna Park in St Kilda in 1912. Williams eventually returned to the United States where he became a key figure in the movie industry as co-founder of First National Pictures, a distribution and production company which was later acquired by Warner Bros. He is also remembered as the man who signed Charlie Chaplin to Hollywood's first ever million dollar contact. The Phillips, however, chose to remain in Australia where they continued to expand their commercial interests which eventually included part ownership of the Capitol Theatre, another former picture palace, which still stands in Swanston Street, Melbourne.
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