Inglewood’s Iconic Clock Tower

Day 6 Count down to the launch of Suburban Secrets, Saturday 31st July. Install Day 1.
INGLEWOOD’s ICONIC CLOCK TOWER
I feel honoured to have my art installation Pub to Pub – A Street Scape, on show through the original entrance doors to this iconic building. The art work, visually portrayed in long strips, one rectangle each represents a year that a building has been on that particular block. I have used recycled and vintage fabrics to show the types of buildings, along with coloured stitched stripes as a key to the types of businesses occupying those spaces and changes on the Inglewood Beaufort Street strip over the past 100 years.
The Piccadilly Picture Gardens built in 1926 by Thomas James Snooks (1890–1958) a local picture-show man and builder-developer from the 1910s to the 1940s. It was one of the first outdoor film-showing venues in the inner north-eastern suburbs. It was built to resemble a castle, clad in appropriately painted corrugated iron. The gardens were damaged by a fire on 5 January 1928.
The Civic Theatre (currently known as The Clock Tower) and Gardens, opened on Saturday 28th March 1936 comprising of the indoor theatre, the rebuilt open-air picture garden, two shops with dwellings, three lock-up shops and a suite of offices with separate entrance. The Civic Theatre had 932 seats, and Gardens 1,004 seats. Newspaper Article – source Trove “ARTISTIC AND COMFORTABLE Entering from Beaufort-street, one is impressed by the spaciousness of the lounge, with walls of texture finish in bronze and gold. To the right patrons pass to the picture garden; on the left, a wide sweeping staircase leads to the circle of the theatre”
Owing to the demise of suburban cinemas in the face of television they were closed 1 June 1962, the closing films “Blue Hawaii” and “Tokyo After Dark”
In 1969 the building became Max Kay’s Civic Theatre Restaurant until 1987. By the 1990’s there was a motorbike shop in the theatre and a fancy dress hire shop on the first floor.
The Piccadilly Gardens were demolished around 1962 retaining the clock tower. The heritage building was redeveloped (2006–2008) as residential apartments. Image courtesy SLWA.
CategoriesExhibitions

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