Monday, June 2, 2014

Where in Melbourne Puzzle - June 2014


Where in Melbourne Puzzle - June 2014.

 THIS PUZZLE HAS BEEN SOLVED
 10:25 AM Tuesday 3rd of June

DIFFICULTY LEVEL



...


Clue 1 - This structure was originally named after the then Princess of Wales.

 The puzzle has been solved, we have a Winner !

Congratulations Rob !

Rob is an Osca customer.


The rest of the picture clues revealed:
 
 Clue 2
 
 Clue 3

 Clue 4

 Reveal - Her Majestys theatre, Exhibition Street, Melbourne.

About Her Majestys theatre :

The site where Her Majesty’s Theatre now stands was first purchased £100 in a government land sale in February 1839 but remained virtually empty until the gold rush years of the late 1850s.

In the early 1880's a large open air entertainment venue known as the Hippodrome was constructed on the site. At that time it was owned by the grandson of the original purchaser George Porter.
 
Her Majestys Melbourne
 In 1884, Jean Joubert secured a 30 year lease on the site and constructed thirteen three-storey houses with shop fronts along Exhibition and Little Bourke Streets. In the centre of these buildings, he built what was, at the time, the largest theatre in the Southern Hemisphere. Named the Alexandra Theatre after the then Princess of Wales, it was designed by a toung architect Nahum Barnett who later became one of the most prolific and long-serving architects in Melbourne in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

After an outlay of £40,000 (£15,000 over budget), the theatre and surrounding shops known as 'the Alexandra Buildings' were opened on 1 October 1886. The theatre was affectionately referred to as ‘the Aleck’.

Built of red brick with rendered detailing, the central entrance was defined by a raised mansard roof and a distinctive semi-circular window over the doorway.

The Alexandra Theatre had particular success with Australian based plays, including adaptations of works by local authors Marcus Clarke, Ralph Boldrewood and Fergus Hume.

In 1900, the theatre was taken over by James Cassius Williamson. Williamson’s first decision was to commission William Pitt (the architect who had created the Princess Theatre) to refurbish the building. After initial minor refurbishment, the Alexandra Theatre was renamed Her Majesty’s Theatre after Queen Victoria and re-opened on 19 May 1900.

Under Williamson’s management the theatre prospered successfully presenting seasons of opera and musical comedy.
Her Majestys Melbourne
The theatre complex underwent its first major expansion between 1902 and 1904. Designed again by William Pitt, three new buildings were added to accommodate a three storey dressing room, scene dock and paint frame building containing space for painting scenery backdrops with special machinery for raising and lowering the canvasses. All three of these buildings are still part of the theatre complex while the building at Cohen Place now houses the Chinese Museum.

Dame Melba on the $100 note
Dame Nellie Melba had famously complained in 1909 that the auditorium’s acoustics were ‘dead’; she wasn’t performing at the theatre but tested the sound privately. As a result, modifications were made to the auditorium and Dame Melba made her Australian opera debut at the theatre in November 1911 and gave her final, final, final farewell performance there in 1928.
Dame Melba's final performance
J C Williamson's company purchased the theatre outright in 1915. It was the headquarters of the JCW empire until 1978. Many of the productions staged by Williamsons were built at Her Majesty’s and had their Australian premieres there before touring. At its height, Williamsons owned and operated nine theatres in Australia and New Zealand and was the largest theatrical entrepreneur in the world. J C Williamson died in 1913.

In 1924, the name was changed to His Majesty’s Theatre. It had remained Her Majesty’s following the death of Queen Victoria in 1901, even though a king was on the throne from that time.

Her Majestys façade detail
Major works carried out in the 1920s also saw the remodelling to the ground floor facade to Exhibition Street including elaborate doors and extensive use of terracotta tiling. Although the configuration is now different, the external doors and wall finishes fitted then were the same as they are today.

Early in the morning of 25 October 1929, a fire broke out in the main auditorium. The extent of the damage was limited by automatic sprinklers and a fire proof curtain at the front of the stage. The auditorium and lobbies were rebuilt in 1934 in an elegant and sumptuous Art Deco style.

The existing neon sign on the Exhibition Street facade was installed in the late 1930's.

Her Majesty’s Theatre was sold to Gabriel Rose in May 1978 after almost 80 years of association with the J C Williamson organisation. In 1987, a number of temporary alterations were made to the interior of the auditorium in order to accommodate the production of the musical Cats. All alterations made were reinstated in late 1988 at the end of the season.

In 1986, in the year of her 100th anniversary, Her Majesty’s was classified by the National Trust and listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.

In June 2000, Mike Walsh saved the site from being turned into a car park, purchased the theatre and set about replacing the decaying infrastructure. Major renovations occurred over the next two years. The stage house was completely demolished and rebuilt with technical facilities that now allow the theatre to house the most demanding of modern productions.


Further work continues around the building to improve facilities for patrons and performers alike. However, one of the charms of Her Majesty’s is that there are constant reminders both ‘front of house’ and backstage of the glorious history of the building, from the original 1886 Alexandra, to the establishment of the J C Williamson family in the early 1900s and the 1934 rebuild. Her Majesty’s is a true icon of Australian theatre, held in great affection by audiences and theatre workers alike.

 
Research links :

 Her Majestys Melbourne

Thecollectormm

 Dingeengoete blog

Walkingmelbourne

Skyscrapercity

Weekendnotes

Melbourne Neon

Hat-archive

Adonline

Vision

Carters

Museumvictoria


 The July 2014 Where in Melbourne puzzle will posted on the 1st of July 2014.

This page was last updated 3 June 2014.

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