New Palace Nova Prospect cinema includes special artwork connecting its location and history
HAVE a look inside the new Palace Nova Prospect cinema and at some of the artwork connecting the building with its location and history ahead of its opening in two weeks.
City
Don't miss out on the headlines from City. Followed categories will be added to My News.
- 50SIXONE one of five restaurants to open in new cinema complex
- $20 million cinema key to unlocking Prospect economy
- Adelaide cinema’s new golden age
- Take a trip down memory lane at Wallis Piccadilly Cinemas
“ART deco freak” Steve Maras is happy with how the new Palace Nova Prospect cinema has turned out.
“I’m proud and I’m almost relieved because it’s been a long haul,” Mr Maras says.
“We don’t believe there’s anything like this anywhere.
“We don’t believe anyone’s attempted it, in terms of a modern building — a cinema complex with 14 screens, an office level on top — with the art deco interpretation that runs through it.
“It’s a new place paying homage to the 1920s era.”
The Maras Group has spent more than $100,000 on “special touches” to connect the $20 million building to the area and its history ahead of the first movies showing on December 7.
Apart from its art deco curves. the cinema’s most striking feature is colourful stained glass designed by Matthew Stuckey and installed on either side of the “cinema” blade sign on Prospect Rd.
It includes male and female figures dressed to go to the movies.
“It’s referencing back to that time period when going to the cinema was something special,” Stuckey says.
“Stained glass doesn’t come up very often so I wanted something that in 20 or 30 or 40 years ill still look good.”
The glass is surrounded by colourful patterns designed to match up with architectural lines on the building’s facade.
A mural of horse and electric trams on the Rose St side of the building that was demolished to make way for the cinema has been reinterpreted by street artist Adam Poole-Mottishaw.
The new mural has a sense of action to it.
“It’s my interpretation of the original transport mural,” Poole-Mottishaw says. “I definitely wanted to include a vintage tram, which was a very important thing for the history of Prospect.
“I love painting industrial things while putting on abstract slant on it.”
The Rose St side of the cinema also pays tribute to the A.S. Horne glove factory that was based at the site until 2008.
The company was one of the largest employers in Prospect.
Moulds found in the building’s basement were used to create what look like hands poking out of the wall.
Pressed-tin ceilings feature on the underside of verandas surrounding the cinema.
Inside, each theatre has a different design theme.
Overall, Mr Maras says the building and the artwork “has turned out better than I thought”.
“I’m pretty happy with it,” he says.
“This has been eight years in the making.
“It’s been a massive team effort from so many players — from design consultants to architects to engineers.”
The first restaurant in the building — 50SIXONE — opens on Saturday.
Tenants are still being sought for the office level above the cinema.
Adelaide’s most popular school: See who’s winning enrolment race
The state’s top performing public high schools have seen huge spikes in student numbers, new analysis reveals. Search your school to see how it ranks.
Woman rescued from blue-chip suburb cellar
A 45-year-old woman has been rushed to hospital after she became trapped in a cellar in one of Adelaide’s wealthiest suburbs on Sunday morning.