The Victor Theatre, described as a "beautiful new picture palace"[1] was was designed by noted cinema architect Chris A. Smith and built on the site of Ocean Street Garage, owned by D. H. Griffin & Sons.
[2] David Henry Griffin was a businessman who had also worked in public service, had twice contested seats in the House of Assembly, and had run a picture theatre in Murray Bridge.
[2] On 3 February 1928, Hugh Waterman, managing director of Ozone Theatres, announced that his company had taken over National Pictures on 31 January 1928.
Waterman said that he would be undertaking a major renovation of the Victor Theatre, including the addition of a dress circle, expanding the capacity by 350 to accommodate 1000 people.
[2] After a huge fire gutted the building on 15 January 1934, it underwent reconstruction and extension in September of that year, to designs by F. Kenneth Milne as sole practitioner.
[14][2] In 1970 it was acquired by independent operator Roy Denison for A$25,000, who reopened it as the Victa Theatre[13] and expanded the stage area in 1975, to allow for live performances.
In October 2020 the council purchased the cinema, intending to include it in the town's Arts and Culture centre in the future.
[2] Milne's design had considerable impact on future new cinemas, both in modern architectural expression and with its planning for both sightlines and acoustics in the new era of talkies.
[2] It was his first commission from Ozone Theatres, who had used Chris A. Smith in the 1920s, and he henceforth became their appointed architect for all South Australian projects until about 1942, when World War II led to a pause in new construction.
Its entry states:[15]The Victa Cinema (former Ozone Theatre) demonstrates the evolution of motion pictures as a new form of mass entertainment in the twentieth century, and in particular, the role of cinema-going and its contribution to community building in regional South Australia in the interwar period.
It was featured in a photographic exhibition called Now Showing... Cinema Architecture in South Australia held at the Hawke Centre's Kerry Packer Civic Gallery in April/May 2024.