Time is running out for the Palace Theatre, with the venue set to close its doors on May 31. After 150 years as a performance venue, this week sees the last of the Anyway club's regular Saturday nights there.
By AGRON DAUTI
The end of an era is looming over Melbourne’s live music scene with the iconic Palace Theatre to close for good at the end of this month.
The venue was bought in mid-2012 for $13 million by Jinshan Investments, a China-based property investment firm.
The current owners plan to turn the landmark theatre into Australia’s first W Hotel that would stand 30 storeys high.
The $180 million project will be built over 40,000 square metres and would have 205 hotel rooms and 145 luxury apartments.
Proud history as a venue
The site first became a performance venue in 1860 as the Douglas Theatre but burned down in 1912 and was rebuilt as Brennan’s (National) Amphitheatre.
For over a century, the venue has been known by a number of aliases including the Apollo Theatre, Metro Nightclub, Metro Theatre and St James Theatre.
Director and general manager of the Palace Theatre, Greg Young, says the closure of the Melbourne landmark is devastating and could have flow-on effects for the city’s live music scene.
“It’s devastating to the music industry, it’s devastating to the Australian and international music industry and it’s going to devastate the music economy.
“For every show we have we have over 100 staff, we have 20 production people, we have security – it’s going to financially affect a lot of people,” he said.
“The Palace Theatre had the niche market for 2000 strong – either side of us you either go back to the pub scene for a small venue or you go to a larger venue which is Etihad Stadium or Rod Laver Arena.”
Music fans are opposed to the proposed development and disappointed by the imminent closure of the Palace Theatre with many voicing their opinions online.
One fan wrote: “A Melbourne Icon filled with history. Let us keep what belongs to us. Can you really put a price tag on a city's history? How can people do this?” Another wrote: “Another one bites the dust. A big disappointment to loose [sic] another beautiful venue. Sad :(”
Campaign to save building
A group with the aim of preserving the Palace Theatre in its current form, called the Save the Palace Theatre Melbourne, has been campaigning to keep the venue’s doors open.
The Save the Palace Theatre Melbourne Facebook page has almost 35,000 likes and an online petition directed to Minister for Planning, Matthew Guy, has over 28,000 signatures – evidence of the commitment of Melburnians to save the entertainment venue and keep live music thriving in the city.
Committee member Rebecca Leslie maintains hope that the building will be protected.
“We’re sad about the closure but the whole thing is that the building is still going to be here and prior to [the current management] coming in it was empty after the Metro closed, so it doesn’t mean that there’s not going to be another operator that comes in and does exactly the same thing,” Ms Leslie said.
“We don’t think we can keep the current operators in there for the live music but we think we can still save the building so once the building’s safe, it’s just a case of someone else coming along to actually run gigs out of here.”
The closure of the Palace will affect the rest of the live music scene in Melbourne with Palace director Greg Young saying promoters may skip Melbourne altogether.
“A lot of promoters will now bypass Melbourne and for patrons that want to go see bands, they’ll have to fly interstate,” he said.
“[The Palace] was a niche market and the bands will most likely go the local pubs now if they even tour Melbourne at all,” he said.
The club Anyway, which ran on Saturday nights at the Palace, is having its last show this Saturday, May 17. However the owners are about to announce the club’s new venue to keep the show going after the Palace closes.
One of the very last options is for the Heritage Council of Victoria to protect the building and music fans are urging the council to do so.
A 2013 assessment by the Heritage Council concluded that despite the theatre’s “historical, architectural and social significance at a local level,” it did not have “sufficient cultural heritage value to be included in the Victorian Heritage Register”.
Despite not being deemed “state significant”, the Palace Theatre is still under review and remains a possible candidate for listing on the Heritage Register.
“The whole heritage question is a load of rubbish,” said Palace Theatre director Greg Young.
“Not once in the eight years that I’ve been here has anyone from Heritage set foot in this venue,so for them to say anything of substance, I find that very hard to even comprehend that they’ve got any idea of what is in this place.”
Ms Leslie said the committee presented information to the Heritage Council in a hearing last week and hoped the theatre could still achieve“state significant” status.
“Seeing that one of the things they’ve deemed to be of state significance was a lump of wood … when there’s a lump of wood that’s protected as being of state significance, it kind of makes you wonder how a 100-year-old theatre is actually not significant.”
Planning Minister Matthew Guy was contacted for comment a number of times but did not respond.