Wooden hall at 32 Ridgway Street, Whanganui. Built 1895 for the International Order of Odd Fellows (also known as Manchester Unity Friendly Society) by HT “Tommy” Johns, a builder-architect. Used as the lodge meeting rooms and as a local theatre venue. Building in existence in 2019.
The first Oddfellows hall in Whanganui was built in 1865 and once the 1895 hall was opened, the old hall was renamed the Lyceum Theatre, later Empress Theatre, and was demolished in 1916.
No specific information found regarding this theatre but there are newspaper mentions of events at the Theatre Royal, Napier.
Abbott's Opera House (Auckland, N.Z.), Fullers' Opera House (Auckland, N.Z.)
Built in 1882, and first opened on 23 May 1882. In 1897 had a number of alterations. The entrances to the stalls and dress circle were on Wellesley Street, and the principal stage entrances on Elliot Street. Belonged to the estate of Mr H N Abbott. Leased by John Fuller. Held first screening of motion pictures in New Zealand. Destroyed by fire on 3 Dec 1926. Smith & Caughey's building later erected on the same site.
No specific information on this site but there are newspaper mentions of events there in 1895.
The current Theatre Royal is the third theatre of its name on Gloucester Street. The first theatre, built in 1861, was on a site across the road from the current Theatre Royal. It was originally called the Canterbury Music Hall. That building was replaced by a newer theatre on the same site in 1876. Five years after the new theatre was completed it was renamed the Theatre Royal. When the current theatre was built in 1908 the old theatre across the road was sold to The Press, which owned it up until the Canterbury earthquakes.
The first borough council offices in Oamaru were in a wooden building on the south side of the Thames Street Bridge, occupied since the 1860s, but by the turn of the century were considered too small for hosting civic events, as well as being "old and unsightly". The only public hall in Oamaru, the Theatre Royal, had been lost to redevelopment which made the situation more urgent.
Wikipedia
Built prior to 1877 as a stone store, very little of the original structure remains. It opened as a theatre on 16 July I877. In 1911 the present auditorium, fly tower and dressing rooms were added.
Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga
The Dunedin Town Hall, also known as the Dunedin Centre, is a municipal building in the city of Dunedin in New Zealand. It is located in the heart of the city extending from The Octagon, the central plaza, to Moray Place through a whole city block. It is the seat of the Dunedin City Council, providing its formal meeting chamber, as well as a large auditorium and a conference centre. The oldest part of the building has been called the only substantial Victorian town hall still in existence in New Zealand.
[Unknown location] sites appearing in Google searches do not correspond with 1905 date.
The Sydney School of Arts building, now the Arthouse Hotel, is a heritage-listed meeting place, restaurant and bar, and former mechanics' institute, located at 275–277a Pitt Street in the Sydney central business district in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It was designed by John Verge and built from 1830 to 1861. It is also known as Sydney Mechanics' School of Arts. It was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 2 April 1999.
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