The Civic Theatre is a large heritage combination performing-arts theatre, live-music venue, and cinema seating 2,378 people in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The most populous urban area in the country and the fifth largest city in Oceania, Auckland has an urban population of about I ...

, New Zealand. First opened on 20 December 1929, it underwent a major renovation and two-year conservation effort in the late 1990s, and was reopened on 20 December 1999 (its 70th birthday). It is a famous example of the

atmospheric theatre An atmospheric theatre is a type of movie palace design which was popular in the late 1920s. Atmospheric theatres were designed and decorated to evoke the feeling of a particular time and place for patrons, through the use of projectors, archi ...

style wherein lighting and interior design create the illusion of an open sky complete with twinkling stars, giving the audience the impression of being seated in an outdoor

auditorium An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances. For movie theatres, the number of auditoria (or auditoriums) is expressed as the number of screens. Auditoria can be found in entertainment venues, communit ...

at night. The Civic is managed by

Auckland Live Auckland Live and Auckland Conventions, Venues & Events (ALAC), (formerly known as The Edge) presents live arts performances and events at venues across Auckland, New Zealand. ALAC presents live arts performances and events at several prominent v ...

, a business unit of Auckland Unlimited.

Significance

The Civic is internationally significant as the largest surviving atmospheric cinema in Australasia and was the first purpose-built cinema of its kind in New Zealand. It is also known for its Indian-inspired foyer, which includes seated Buddhas, twisted columns and domed ceilings. The main auditorium is of a similarly exotic style, imitating a

Moorish The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or s ...

garden with turrets,

Minaret A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گل‌دسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generall ...

s, spires and tiled roofs, as well as two life-sized Abyssinian panther statues. The Civic accommodated 2,750 people at its opening, and is still the largest theatre in New Zealand even at its current reduced-seating capacity.

History

The theatre was the creation of Thomas O'Brien, who built a movie empire in Auckland's inner suburbs in the 1920s, and brought the atmospheric cinema to New Zealand when he opened

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's Moorish-style Empire De Luxe Theatre in 1928. O'Brien persuaded a group of wealthy Auckland businessmen to build a massive atmospheric cinema on Queen Street, and managed to secure a £180,000 loan from the

Bank of New Zealand Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) is one of New Zealand's big four banks and has been operating in the country since the first office was opened in Auckland in October 1861 followed shortly after by the first branch in Dunedin in December 1861. The b ...

for the project. The cinema was built by

Fletcher Construction The Fletcher Construction Company Limited is a New Zealand construction company and a subsidiary of Fletcher Building. Together with Higgins Contractors Ltd it makes up the Construction division of Fletcher Building. Fletcher Construction is wid ...

over eight months. However, the

BNZ Bank of New Zealand (BNZ) is one of New Zealand's big four banks and has been operating in the country since the first office was opened in Auckland in October 1861 followed shortly after by the first branch in Dunedin in December 1861. The ...

loan and soaring construction costs caught the attention of the

New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand (King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by hi ...

as the final price tag ballooned to over £200,000 (approximately NZ$18.9 million in 2016). The Civic opened amid great fanfare in December 1929, but the onset of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

contributed to disappointing attendances, as did O'Brien's stubborn insistence on showing British rather than the more popular American films; he eventually declared bankruptcy. After several modifications during the following decades, the theatre was eventually restored to an approximation of its original design in the late-1990s. The theatre also gained some fame when it was used in

Peter Jackson Sir Peter Robert Jackson (born 31 October 1961) is a New Zealand film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known as the director, writer and producer of the ''Lord of the Rings'' trilogy (2001–2003) and the ''Hobbit'' trilogy ( ...

's 2005 remake of ''King Kong'', standing in for a New York theatre called The Alhambra.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Photographs of the Civic Theatre
held in

Auckland Libraries Auckland Libraries is the public library system for the Auckland Region of New Zealand. It was created when the seven separate councils in the Auckland region merged in 2010. It is currently the largest public-library network in the Southern He ...

' heritage collection. Buildings and structures in Auckland NZHPT Category I listings in the Auckland Region Cinemas in New Zealand Theatres in Auckland Theatres completed in 1929 Atmospheric theatres 1929 establishments in New Zealand 1920s architecture in New Zealand Auckland CBD