Built in 1929, it was designed by leading US 'picture palace' architect John Eberson, in association with the local architectural firm Bohringer, Taylor & Johnson.

Designed as an 'atmospheric theatre', the interior intended to evoke a Florentine walled garden, complete with a cerulean-blue ceiling sprinkled with lights like twinkling stars, mimicking a twilight sky.

The very elaborate Moorish / Arabic style exterior is quite rare amongst all 1920s picture palaces, with only the Fox Atlanta, the Avalon Chicago and the Omaha Riviera being comparable.

[6] A dual-console Wurlitzer organ of style 270 was installed, the first to be built 'west of Chicago', featuring 21 rows of pipes and a grand piano attachment and oboe horn.

In 1995 it was purchased by David Marriner's Staged Developments Australia, who redeveloped it for use as a film and concert venue operating as Forum Melbourne.

This was approved by then Planning Minister Matthew Guy, but opposed by the City of Melbourne and local objectors, who took the matter to VCAT and won.

[12] In early 2024, the Marriner Group applied for a permit from Heritage Victoria for urgent works because some decorative elements of the exterior were unstable and likely to fall.

[citation needed] In more recent times, the Forum has been used as a venue for numerous acts during the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, including local favourite Akmal Saleh and international acts, such as Mark Watson, Jason Byrne, Arj Barker and Megan Mullally among others and in September, Tyler Oakley's Slumber Party.