[4] After visiting the US to see Eberson's work, White was able to eliminate all columns supporting the upper balconies and the interior also reflecting the American's influence.

The opening night's performance featured noted bandleader Will Prior who was described in the program as a conductor capable of lifting 'jazz to perfection in a sublime miscellany of melodious rhythm'.

[4] The theatre opened with the Ernst Lubitsch film The Patriot on 7 June 1929, accompanied by Price Dunlavy billed as a 'debonair genius' playing on the Wurlitzer organ.

[12][13] The theatre building has Gothic-style street facades and an elaborate late Gothic street lobby complete with fan vaulting, a Neoclassical domed stairhall, elaborately detailed foyers and lobbies, while the main auditorium is a richly detailed Baroque styled space with three tiers of seating and a coffered domed ceiling.

The State played its part by continuing to provide an escape for all those directly and indirectly involved in the conflict, with films starring actors such as Cary Grant, Ronald Colman and Joan Crawford.

Increasing affluence and economic stability fuelled rapid expansion of new outer lying suburbs and helped to create the so-called 'baby boom' generation.

Film attractions included James Stewart in Bend of the River in 1952 and Virginia McKenna starring in an adaptation of Neville Shute classic book A Town Like Alice in 1956.

[4] The 1960s saw Australia in a period of radical change reflected in the growth of pop culture and increasing opposition to the Vietnam War, which mirrored social upheaval worldwide.

In terms of film entertainment, the increasing penetration of television into Australian homes during the late 1960s and early 1970s saw filmmakers turn towards the Hollywood 'blockbuster' as a means of returning audiences to the cinema.

[6] a low budget horror movie, which was such a hit to the extent that, as one newspaper reported, police had to be brought in to control the crowds in Market Street.

The plan failed to proceed after the theatre owners did not acquire the retail building located adjacent the stage that would have allowed expansion to the west.

The adoption of individual historical themes and architectural imagery for each of the spacious anterooms and lobbies to the public toilets is an unusual and highly attractive device.

Extensive evidence of this detailing survives in certain areas of the Shopping Block building, particularly the ground floor lift lobby, with its glazed display cabinets.

[4] The lavish shopfront decoration, extensive illumination and extravagant event promotion signage all contribute greatly to the richness of the Market Street streetscape in the immediate vicinity.

[4] The interior fitout of the small café, most of which dates from the mid-1990s, is a good example of contemporary Art Deco revival but retains important elements, particularly the gothic ceilings and mosaic floor tiling of the original decoration.

The State Theatre, with its central city location and strong history, is a widely known and popular entertainment facility in Sydney society.

The architectural and spatial progression from the introductory gothic imagery on the street frontage, through the 14th century Gothic Hall and Robert Adam inspired Empire Room to the Baroque drama of the Rotunda and French Empire decorated foyers into the splendour of the main auditorium is an experience unparalleled in any 19th or 20th century building in New South Wales.

The interiors that make up this composition are of the highest of quality design in terms of theatricality and execution, they remain almost completely intact and in excellent condition.

The original gothic imagery of the street level facade and on the soffit of the awning, reflected and set the scene for the lavish interiors.

[4] When erected in 1929 the flamboyantly decorated State Theatre was the ultimate public entertainment venue in New South Wales at a time when movie-going audiences were being thrilled by the increasing exuberance of each new cinema.

[4] Other aspects of the complex are significant for their original functions including a multi-storey retail arcade, ballroom and theatrette, although none of these activities survived into the late 20th century.

The quality of the plaster work, particularly in the Auditorium and Proscenium Arch and of other decorative items such as light fittings, is of the highest standard of 1920s design and craftsmanship.

It is an architectural composition that was unique in the late 1920s, of the highest quality of design and execution, and of national if not international importance for its creation of a spatial enclosure of extraordinary fantasy, brilliantly capturing the cinema-going spirit of the times.

When erected in 1929 the flamboyantly decorated State Theatre was the ultimate public entertainment venue in New South Wales at a time when movie-going audiences were being thrilled with the increasing exuberance of each new cinema.

The entire State Theatre complex is unique in Australia, as a major early 20th-century entertainment venue with Gothic and French Empire inspired interiors of the highest quality design and craftsmanship.

The gothic detailing on the Market Street shop frontage is unique in Australia as an example of early 20th-century decoration which functioned as an introduction to the dramatic theatrical imagery of the cinema within.

The gothic decoration of the ground floor lift foyer to the former Shopping Block is unique for such as space in New South Wales and possibly Australia.

The State Theatre site has a long history of development related to activities representative of the central business district of Sydney, including several buildings occupied by the Evening News.

The building is representative of the adoption of contemporary cinema designs from the United States in the 1920s to capture a local audience for the emerging international popularity of the movies.

The vertical Shopping Block was representative of that particular style of inner-city retailing, introduced in the 1920s but not successful in the face of competition from the large department stores.