Bijou Theatre

2 Rowntree Street,
Sydney, NSW 2041

Unfavorite 2 people favorited this theater

Additional Info

Previously operated by: Hoyts Theatres

Functions: Housing

Styles: Art Deco

Previous Names: National Theatre, Balmain Theatre, Hoyts Balmain Theatre

Nearby Theaters

Bijou Theatre

Located in the west Sydney suburb of Balmain. The National Theatre was opened as a live theatre/music hall in January 1912. Eventually cinema use came and it was taken over by Hoyts Theatres chain in the late-1920’s, and was renamed Hoyts Balmain Theatre. Remodeled in 1936, in an Art Deco Style.

It was closed in 1964 and became an auction house. Re-opened as an independent Bijou Cinema in 1974, and went back to live theatre with some cinema use until 1980.

In the late-1990’s, it was converted into apartments, known as ‘The Bijou’.

Contributed by Ken Roe

Recent comments (view all 1 comments)

Stillatiger
Stillatiger on November 2, 2017 at 10:13 pm

It was getting pretty poor crowds (at the kid’s Saturday Matinee at least) by 1964. Understandable when they were still dishing up 50’s B grade schlock such as “The Purple Mask”, though the old girl got some full houses and rocked just before it closed when The Beatles “A Hard Day’s Night” screened. Before an auction house, it re-opened in 1965 as a live music venue called Havana Village. It was along the lines of Surf City at Kings Cross, and featured acts such as The Easybeats, Aztecs etc. My late father said in his day, a challenge for kids was to “Climb the Giant’s Bum”, which entailed climbing a vertical steel maintenance ladder located on the side of the building reaching from the ground to the roof.

You must login before making a comment.

New Comment

Subscribe Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.