Call to restore ‘His Majesty’ to past glory

His Majesty’s Theatre’s Crawford St frontage in 1904. It was demolished in 1975. Photo by Richard...
His Majesty’s Theatre’s Crawford St frontage in 1904. It was demolished in 1975. Photo by Richard Stedman Collection.

His Majesty's Theatre should be reborn, saving a nationally-important heritage building and giving Dunedin a much needed medium-size live theatre venue, experts say.

The 1897 building with frontages on Crawford and Vogel Sts, now known as Sammy's, is for sale, lacks significant legal protection, and could be bowled by developers.

But Arts Festival Dunedin director Nicholas McBryde said the city needed a medium-size live theatre venue.

Many promoters bypassed Dunedin because the Regent Theatre was too big and the Mayfair too small, he said.

Mr McBryde was on a Dunedin City Council strategic planning committee more than 10 years ago when proposals to create a medium-size venue were shelved, he said yesterday.

Renovating Sammy's was put in the "too hard basket'' by the council because it was "a bit grotty and in the wrong part of town''.

But the area had been gentrified and renovating Sammy's made more sense than building a new venue.

"With half the money it would take to build a new one you could do something quite remarkable there ... it's suddenly a potentially very attractive proposition for serious consideration.''

Dunedin historian Peter Entwisle, who last year wrote a detailed report on the building, including both its physical and cultural history, recently lodged submissions with both the council and Heritage New Zealand arguing the building be added to their heritage lists.

Inclusion on the council's list would force developers to go through a publicly notified resource consent process if major alterations or demolitions were planned.

But that protection could take a long time to come and the theatre was at risk now, Mr Entwisle said.

At the same time, Dunedin needed a high-quality live performance theatre seating about 1000 people and the purpose-built His Majesty's Theatre was the obvious solution.

While a complete overhaul could cost about $10 million, building a new theatre would likely cost three or four times that.

There was no immediate need to spend significant public money on the building.

Its future could be secured if the council bought it and earmarked it for future restoration.

The building, on leasehold land, was on the market for $240,000.

Council community arts adviser Craig Monk said the council had identified a need for a medium-sized live performance venue and had commissioned reports on the matter in 2008 and 2009.

While the building was not bought seven years ago, "a number of things have happened in the meantime'', he said.

Significant money had been invested into the Regent Theatre, the warehouse precinct was being revitalised, heritage buildings were being restored and the council had, since October, an arts and culture strategy that gave more weight to that sphere.

Mr Monk said the council was "aware'' of the possibilities the building offered.

"Basically, the position is the council is well aware, both from those [2008/9] reports and from the recent news about Sammy's, that Dunedin has amazing performing arts infrastructure. And [that infrastructure] does have needs.''

But the council had to balance those needs against funding realities, he said.

Cr Aaron Hawkins said it would be inappropriate to comment on heritage protection because of his role on the council's second generation plan hearings panel.

However, he said it was important Dunedin had a range of venues to accommodate both local and touring shows.

"Sammy's has been an iconic venue, for music especially, for decades. It's majestic proscenium arch stage makes it a dramatic performance space and I hope its current, or any future owner, would continue to make it available for that purpose.''

craig.borley@odt.co.nz

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement