Windsor Cinema

It is an Art Deco cinema designed by the architect William T. Leighton and constructed in 1937.

The Windsor Theatre was built in 1937 by W.H Ralph and Sons for E.P Nelson of Claremont District Pictures.

This was a world first design for architect, William T. Leighton, who developed the concept of a projecting wing to the main bio-box which when coupled with a trolley rail system enabled the movie projectors to be quickly rolled from the internal to the external garden projection ports and vice versa.

The functionalist characteristics of the cinema include the use of decorative elements that serve no particular function, horizontal and straight lines (often three in parallel), roofs concealed behind parapets, steel and reinforced concrete used to achieve wide spans and the asymmetrical massing of simple geometric shapes.

A Nautical Moderne design aspect is seen in the steel balustrading, which reflects the influence of elements associated with ocean liners.

These include the removal of the picture gardens and replacement with a second modern cinema and car parking, removal of the original candy bar, ticket box and booking office, modernisation of the toilets, demolition of old street canopy, new foyer ceiling, modifications to the projection room and bio-box balcony and the installation of new seating throughout the auditorium.