Windsor Theatre at Lockleys to be demolished to make way for a carpark
The vacant Windsor Theatre at Lockleys will be demolished within days to make way for a carpark, prompting a last-minute plea from Trak Theatre operator Adam Towill for it to be saved.
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The final curtain will fall at the former Windsor Theatre in Lockleys next week, when it is demolished to make way for a carpark.
West Torrens Council will demolish the Henley Beach Rd cinema, which opened in 1925, along with the Lockleys RSL building and the Mellor Park Tennis Clubroom, as part of an upgrade of the Mellor Park precinct.
Demolition is expected to start on August 31 and take four to six weeks.
Adam Towill, who runs the Trak Theatre at Toorak Gardens, is calling on the council to grant the cinema a last-minute reprieve.
“We have so few of these venues left already,” Mr Towill said.
“I think that hall has a lot more to offer as it is at the moment rather than a carpark.
“You cannot replace a 100-year-old venue.”
The cinema screened its last movie in 2012.
“I don’t know why they have jumped to the conclusion that it needs to be demolished,” Mr Towill said.
The theatre is well known for its hundreds of original movie posters, including 1972’s The Godfather, 1971’s Clint Eastwood classic Dirty Harry and 1962’s Lawrence of Arabia.
The council said the posters were glued to a wall and attempts to remove them had failed.
Instead, the posters have been photographed and the council will create two “visual history walls” on the site’s south-western area.
It will also attempt to save the posters by removing part of the wall.
The council said the upgrade was aimed at “activating greater community use of the reserve”, with the former senior citizens building to be upgraded as a community venue and much of the area to become green open space.
“While part of the existing building’s footprint will make way for carparking, this use needs to be viewed in the wider context of the total redevelopment of the site and the aims and outcomes sought to be achieved from this redevelopment,” it said.
The council said the community had been consulted on the development.
“The responses that council received during these consultations were positive and supportive of the proposed demolition of the theatre,” it said.
As part of the development, a new playground and public toilets will be built and a memorial created to recognise the former Lockleys RSL Sub-branch and Memorial Hall.
It will also include one public tennis court and a 3-on-3 basketball court.
The council received Federal Government funding for the work.