Deliberate destruction.

Original post 16 April 2020

☹️😢 Shocked, disappointed, angry…..the owners of the 1929 #BurnleyTheatre in Sean Street Richmond were so scared of being #heritagelisted that they’ve just destroyed the interior – another great theatre down, just like the Palace. I heard a member of the family that owns it speak at the @cityofyarra council meeting, where she expressed a mixture of anger and extreme anxiety at the idea of the interior being listed, because …. ‘it would cost hundreds if thousands’ to restore, ‘the plasterwork is falling’, ‘at the end of it’s life’, ‘would decimate the value of the site’, and put ‘35 jobs at risk’. Of course some simple repairs might have fixed the problem (but we’ll never know), and Council could have helped, but instead, no help, simply decided not to list after all, so no impediment to the destruction, but it was going to a Panel anyway, I was going to help the locals who were supporting the listing, and theses images have just been supplied. Yes it was broken, bits missing, but it was one of the most elaborate suburban cinemas not already listed, only the Westgarth is more intact, and also not listed (but in safe hands fortunately). It’s been v sad to see so many suburban cinemas disappear since the 90s, either completely or just the interior, the Art Deco Waverley and the Windsor, the Spanish style Capitol in Warrnambool (tried to save that one), the Carlton Moviehouse, and now this. There’s a few more, thinking must write to councils now and hopefully get some listed, since no local council has ever listed the interior of an old cinema ….