Community protest in Adelaide east suburb of Burnside saves art deco cinema with Princess to Regal history from 1925

The Regal Theatre on Kensington Road, Marryattville, in Adelaide's eastern suburbs regained its art-deco cinema glamour under work for City of Burnside as owner and manager.

The Regal Theatre, the latest in its series of names and changes since 1925, was saved as a cinema by the activism of the community in the eastern Adelaide suburb of Burnside from 2008. State heritage listed since 1983, the cinema was run, as well as being owned, by the City of Burnside from 2017.

The building was constructed on Kensington Road at Marryatville in 1925 as the 1,300-seats Princess Theatre, originally designed for silent movies. In 1928, the Princess became the Marryatville Ozone, when Ozone Pictures (later absorbed into Hoyts) became owners, and was adapted for “talkies” from 1929.

A major upgrade, from a late-Edwardian to an art-deco design by Chris Smith, was made in 1941 for Ozone by the firm of F. Kenneth Milne Architect. In 1963, the building was up for sale and Amoco Petrol Company was prepared to buy the cinema and replace it with a petrol station. Instead, Burnside Council bought the cinema and leased it back to the previous owner Hoyts. When Hoyts decided not to renew their lease in 1971 and Wallis Cinemas took it over the name was changed to Chelsea Cinema.

In 2008, the City of Burnside received a inquiry as to whether council was prepared to sell the Chelsea Cinema and May Street property next door. After considering  options for the cinema site, the council called for expressions of interest in its sale. This led to a strong activism within the community, contesting any sale and demanding that the building remain in public ownership as a cinema in perpetuity.

As a result of the community protest, the City of Burnside abandoned the sale and opted to lease the cinema to a private cinema operator, Republic Theatres – along with another name change to the Regal Theatre. Republic Theatres ran the cinema until 2017, when the council opted to manage the cinema using its internal resources.

The City of Burnside’s conservation management plan for the Chelsea Cinema in 2009 was updated for the Regal Theatre in 2020 to guide the developing conserving and maintaining it, based its history and significance and physical condition.