It has been in the news of late that the Regent Cinema in Queen Street, Brisbane, is under threat from EVIL developers, wanting to build a giant monolith atop the nearly 90 year old theatre/cinema.
While I don’t often go the Regent, I oppose any proposed redevelopment due to the fact that the developers are claiming that they will develop the site to maintain the historical importance of the theatre, while the fact remains that the motives behind redeveloping the site are the same as they have always been throughout all human history - money.
The Brisbane City Council and State government should do something admirable, and step in to prevent any proposed redevelopment. They failed with ‘festival towers’, built on the site of Festival Hall.
That’s not entirely true. The only part that is 90 years old is the foyer and staircase, the rest was demolished in the 70s. The only part that is on the heritage register (which I have personally looked up) is the foyer and staircase. The development plan (which I have also personally sited) includes using the current heritage foyer and staircase as the foyer/entrance to the new building. This would hopefully increase the public’s access to it and preserve it for the future. Everyone is jumping on the bandwagon of saving the bad part that was built in the 70s, why don’t they take the time to find out that the actual heritage part *is* being preserved?
Digi
February 21st, 2008
“The development plan (which I have also personally sited) includes using the current heritage foyer and staircase as the foyer/entrance to the new building.”
This leads me to believe that the development plan (which I have near-zero knowledge of) means to use the foyer of the theatre as an entrance to something that isn’t a theatre or a cinema - instead a commercial building which is presumably going to be filled with offices.
My whole beef with the concept is that re-development of the space into something that ain’t a cinema takes away from the concept of heritage. If the plan goes ahead - people will remember it as the nice pretty foyer entrance to a building that used to be a cinema, and within a generation or so, no one will remember that. Thus the whole concept of ‘keeping the heritage’ of the site is lost.
Also, if it becomes an office block, I don’t see how that can possibly increase public access - only decrease it.
It happened with festival towers!
daz
February 21st, 2008