Ambassador Theatre, Perth

The interior of the Ambassadors Theatre in Perth, Western Australia showing seating in the upper circle.

The Ambassadors Theatre was designed as an 'atmospheric picture palace' and opened in November 1928.

Other atmospheric theatres built by Australia’s Union Theatres Ltd in the late 1920s were Sydney’s Capitol Theatre and Melbourne’s State Theatre.

The theatre included elaborate detailing inspired by ancient Greece and the ceiling was painted with the sky.

Hoyts removed much of the Greek statuary and decoration, and repainted the ceiling, after taking over the theatre in 1938. The Wurlitzer organ was sent to Melbourne in 1946 to replace the organ in the Regent Theatre which had been destroyed by fire.

The Ambassadors Theatre closed on 2 February 1972 and was demolished.

It was replaced by a Hoyts cinema complex that lasted until the 1990s; shops now stand on the site.

Notes by Stephen Groenewegen