May 2017:

The slightly faded grandeur and intimate scale of the #AtheneaumTheatre – perfect for the performance of #Cabaret I saw last night. Love #PaulCapsis. The theatre was created in 1924 inside the 19thC hall/lecture theatre of #theAth, Melbourne’s first #mechanics institute; the theatre was designed by #HenryWhite, who did so many theates and cinemas in OZ and NZ in them days. It became a cinema in 1930 since theatre died a bit in the depression, and only became a live theatre again in 1976 when it was home for the #MelbourneTheatreCompany. Think I saw Macbeth there on a school excursion, real theatre! We are SO lucky to have 4 original live theatres in our CBD, plus three ex #picturepalaces, one now a live theatre, the others live acts, films etc.

29 June 2024

The Athenaeum in Collins Street is very grand, and features an actual statue of Athena, goddess of wisdom, up top. The front was designed by Smith & Johnson and added in 1886 to an earlier building, which opened in 1843 as a mechanics institute. There was a hall for lectures and events behind, which was transformed in 1924 into a proper theatre, designed by Harry White, a very intimate auditorium in pink and gold. And the institute still operates a lending library on the first floor. Old photos via Facebook.

4 August 2025

Popped in today to look at the old lift that takes you up to the Athenaeum Library on Collins Street, and it’s still there and still operating (with a drinks machine almost obscuring it). The library themselves researched it and did an article, finding that it was slotted into a light court in 1930, and was designed by Sydney Smith Ogg & Serpell, who were busy then doing the equally ornate Port Authority Building in Market Street.

The style is rather Georgian, perhaps to go with the Adam style theatre interiors of 1924? Anyway, great broken pediment with urn framing the door, and inside it’s all polished timber with delicate inlaid arches, and a cute little domed light. The building is on the heritage register and the lift is specially mentioned; it’s one of only about a dozen pre WWII lifts left in Victoria that I know of, about 9 are in buildings on the register.

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