Wellington's picture theatres

Abstract

It could be argued that most of the picture theatres built in Wellington are significant in some way. They may be significant because of the films exhibited, the style in which they were built, the entrepreneurs who envisaged them, the architects who designed them, the uses they had before becoming theatres, the sentimental value they may have, and so on. In a report of a length of 10,000 words, some form of selection must be made; to a degree arbitrary. I decided to bring the number of picture theatres included in this paper down to a manageable size; hence I excluded all theatres outside Wellington Central(i.e. "downtown"). The theatres have been classified into three categories, (i) converted picture theatres, i.e. buildings used for other purposes but not including 'legitimate' theatres; (ii) converted 'legitimate' theatres, i.e. theatres used for live shows before being adapted for movies; and (iii) purpose-built picture theatres. Out of these I have concentrated my research on theatres of the (iii) kind.