Embassy Theatre’s 100th

Embassy Theatre’s 100th

2024 is quite a year for centennials. The Local has already highlighted three occurring this year in our neighbourhood: BATs, Wellington East Girls’ College and Clyde Quay School.  There’s one more to come, as Joanna Newman of the Mt Victoria Historical Society explains.

On October 31st, the Embassy Theatre marks its 100th birthday since it opened as the De Luxe Theatre.  

This landmark building, defining the end of Courtenay Place and, of course, the edge of Mount Victoria has a Heritage New Zealand Pouhere Taonga Category 1 registration. 

It was designed by Llewellyn Williams for William Kemball, who designed or remodelled a number of theatres around New Zealand.

Kemball had already built up a successful company by the time he began to acquire the Mount Victoria sections for the site of the De Luxe.  He planned one of the biggest and grandest theatres yet erected in New Zealand and initially envisaged a four-storey theatre (reduced to three before construction).

 The theatre was officially opened by the Mayor on the 31 October 1924.  His address was reported in the Evening Post, with the comment: “The proprietors in their enterprise had shown their faith in the future of the city of Wellington; and he believed their faith would not be misplaced.” Many people have expressed their faith in the Embassy since, fighting for its restoration and bring it back to life.

The Theatre opened showing Cecile B De Mille’s Ten Commandments at a gala New Zealand premiere. It was looked forward to “as one of the biggest events in theatre entertainment in the history of New Zealand”.

That level of movie excitement in Wellington was only matched 80 years later by the New Zealand premieres at the Embassy of Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings movies in 2001 and 2002 – and then totally eclipsed by the world premiere of the third in the trilogy in 2003.

The first movies were, of course, silent but they were accompanied by the twelve-piece De Luxe Orchestra. The orchestra was replaced in 1927 a Wurlitzer organ which, in addition to more orthodox music, was capable of producing a range of sound effects including explosions, bird songs and breaking waves. When ‘the talkies’ arrived in 1929, the theatre was wired for the Western Electric Sound System. Although the Wurlitzer was no longer needed for film screenings, it provided musical entertainment before, during intervals and at film’s end. Organ concerts were held right up to the 1950s. 

Now, with the demise of the Paramount down the road, the Embassy is believed to be the oldest movie theatre in the country still operating as a cinema.

There’s so much more to tell of the Embassy Theatre’s history but there are several opportunities coming up.  Mount Victoria Historical Society is offering historical tours of the theatre during the Wellington Heritage Festival (https://wellingtonheritagefestival.co.nz/ to find out more) and creating a history panel to be permanently mounted on the Majoribanks Street wall of the Theatre.  The Council is also working on a programme of events to mark the centennial, so look out for more information.