Warner (ex Majestic) theatre site's century of Adelaide city life, with hotels and wowsers, wiped out in 1981
The Majestic Theatre (top) as a cinema in 1962 in King William Street, Adelaide city, with a crowd gathered to see the Festival of Arts parade. The Majestic cinema became the Warner Theatre and reverted to a live performance venue before it was demolished in 1981 with the former Commonwealth Bank building (bottom left). The Warner/Majestic had a heritage of being a theatre associated with The Majestic Hotel and, before it, the Clarence Hotel and its predecessors. (bottom middle and right).
Main image by Michael Lockley, courtesy City of Adelaide. Other images courtesy State Library of South Australia
The demolition of the Majestic Hotel (and Warner – former Majestic – film theatre) shared building in King William Street, Adelaide city, in 1981, to make way for the Commonwealth Bank office block, ended a colourful era stretching from the 19th Century that blended pubs, theatre, entertainment – and wowsers.
The Clarence Hotel started life as the restaurant called Alma Shades in 1857, then Adelaide Shades in 1858, owned by F.W. Lindrum, father of billiards champions Frederick and Walter Lindrum. One of the hotel's large underground halls was set up as a billiard saloon – the city's finest.
The venue became the Clarence Hotel from 1863 to 1917 before its last identity as the Majestic. The Clarence Hotel’s association with theatre and entertainment was inherited from Adelaide Shades' link to the adjacent White's Rooms, later the Adelaide Assembly Room, opened in 1856 as a function centre and venue for plays, concerts and comic operas.
Thomas Waterhouse bought the White's Rooms property (among many in Adelaide city) In 1878 and it remained in the Waterhouse family for many decades.
In 1880, the Clarence became the hotel bar incorporated into Garner's Theatre, the next version of White’s Rooms. Garner’s Theatre, with the hotel, passed through several lease holders, as the Tivoli theatre, Bijou theatre, Star picture theatre and finally, from 1916, the Majestic theatre and hotel.
Adding spice to the Clarence’s existence, the building on the hotel and theatres’ other side was the Methodist Book Depot. The book depot was frequented by Wesleyans with strict temperance views on alcohol and regarding theatre as suggesting sin and blasphemy. In 1880, when White's Rooms were remodelled by George Gordon to become Garner's Theatre, for entrepreneur Arthur Garner with Wybert Reeve as theatre manager, its name later reverted to Garner's Rooms, perhaps out of fears of losing patronage from Methodists who regarded theatre as sin and blasphemy.
In 1884, T.P. Hudson took over the lease, and after more redecorating, reopened the theatre as The Bijou. Among the theatre's users between 1890 and 1899 were the Garrick Club theatre group and the South Australian Literary Societies Union. Harry Rickards became the next proprietor in 1900, demolishing much of the old structure and renaming it The Tivoli. It closed in August 1913 to reopen as the New Tivoli Theatre (later Her Majesty's) in Grote Street, Adelaide city.
Bud Atkinson promptly took over the King William Street theatre lease and, in 1913, it became the Star Theatre, a cinema screening a one-hour programme continuously from 11am to 10.30pm daily. It closed in 1915 but started a chain of film theatres.
In 1916, the Star Theatre and the Clarence Hotel were demolished to become the side-by-side Majestic Theatre and Majestic Hotel. An £18,000 conversion turned the Majestic Theatre into Adelaide's most modern but as a films venue. In 1928, Benjamin Fuller, John Fuller and Bert Lennon purchased the theatre from the owners A. E. and F. Tolley. The Majestic continued as one of the city's leading picture theatres until 1967, when it was renovated to become Celebrity Theatre and Restaurant. Two years later it was reinvented again for cinema and live performance as called Warner Theatre, owned by City Projects Pty Ltd from 1969. Notable performances at the Warner included the Eleo Pomare Dance Company in 1972, Don's Party in 1975 and a short season of The Rocky Horror Show in 1977.
Both the Majestic Hotel and the Warner (former Majestic) Theatre were demolished in 1980 to make way for a new Commonwealth Bank office block in King William Street.
