Capitol Theatre
109-117 Swanston Street

Built: 1921-24
Architect: Walter Burley and Marion Mahoney Griffin
Owner: RMIT

Capitol Theatre was Melbourne's crowning architectural achievement in the twenty years after Federation. It is notable for a number of pioneering concepts including its marvellous stained glass details and magical geometric plaster ceilings.

Open to MOH: Level 1, main theatre space (up the stairs to the right)
Times: 10 am to 5pm
Access restrictions: Disabled access to theatre via ground floor lift, located on the right hand side after the main theatre stairs.

When this cinema opened in 1924, the public flocked to hear the Wurlitzer organ and see the movies and the spectacular light show afforded by the Griffins' plaster ceiling design. Like a crystal-hung cave, thousands of concealed coloured lights were gradually illuminated to provide a fantastic atmospheric experience. It was a space that evoked spiritual transcendence, but the interior of 'living rock' was not the direct romantic evocation of a Tuscan garden as seen in the later Forum. It was certainly otherworldly, but the image was distinctly architectural, suggesting a stepped pyramid form, the mystical essence of an original and arguably natural monument.

The Capitol was also of technical interest. To achieve such a dramatic ceiling, massive reinforced concrete portals allowed the interior structure to be hung uninterrupted by any internal columns. Outside, the Capitol is also distinctive. Two deep cornices cap two pylon motifs each of three vertical piers extending over the entire height of the facade. It is, as historian Jeffrey Turnbull has suggested, like a giant gateway. Cinema historian Ross Thorne has described it as, '...not a mere breath of fresh air wafting through the design offices of Melbourne, it was a howling gale of modernity sweeping out every vestige of revivalist decorative stylism.'

Tragically, in the 1960s, the owners decided to insert a shopping arcade right through the middle of the auditorium. A campaign to save the theatre was waged and a compromise was reached: the cave-like foyers were destroyed and a new floor was inserted. Many of the original lobby and vestibule spaces were either destroyed or boarded up, but the ceiling was saved.

In recent years, great efforts have been made to restore surviving elements of the theatre. The dramatic cantilevering street canopy with its light globes and skylights is the most significant recent restoration.

RMIT purchased the theatre in 1999 and has undertaken further refurbishment work, including the repainting of the auditorium ceiling and the installation of new seating. The Capitol is used primarily as a lecture theatre and for special events. The theatre is open to the public for guided tours on the third Friday of the month.*

In 1965, Robin Boyd wrote eloquently in The Australian about the Capitol:

"When you reach the last flight of stairs, you approach one of the architectural sights of Australia. At the top of the stairs it bursts upon you. It is only a picture theatre. It is only plaster. Yet in its own way it is sheer magic."

Magic, it still is. The Capitol was Melbourne's crowning architectural achievement in the twenty years after Federation.

Source: "A guide to Melbourne architecture", by Philip Goad, 1999, p. 105. The Watermark Press, Sydney.

*For further information on the guided tours please contact RMIT University on (03) 9925 2415.

Capitol Theatre

Capitol Theatre