Windsor Cinemas

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The Windsor Cinema is located at 98 Stirling Highway, Nedlands, Western Australia. It is an Art Deco cinema designed by the architect William T. Leighton and constructed in 1937. It is currently leased by Luna Palace Cinemas.HistoryThe Windsor Theatre was built in 1937 by W.H Ralph and Sons for E.P Nelson of Claremont District Pictures. It was constructed in brick with rendered and plastered finishes externally and internally. The Windsor Cinema is typical of a number of Australian cinemas built during the 1930s-40s, although the inclusion of a movable projector which could be used to screen films into the adjacent picture garden was unique at its time. It was officially opened on 10 September 1937 by the Chairman of the Nedlands Road Board, Mr. Bennett. The theatre had a seating capacity of at least 800, the largest in the district at the time.The cinema shared a bio-box with the picture gardens, similar to the Cygnet Cinema in South Perth. This was a world first design for architect, William T. Leighton, who developed the concept of a projecting wing to the main bio-box which when coupled with a trolley rail system enabled the movie projectors to be quickly rolled from the internal to the external garden projection ports and vice versa.The theatre was operated by Vince Lucus until it was taken over by Independent Film Distributors. The gardens did not survive the introduction of television, and closed in 1968. Extensive renovations were done to the cinema, with the last remnants of the picture garden being demolished in 1988. The cinema survived the introduction of television by becoming an 'art house' venue. The Windsor was the first cinema to screen subtitled films in Perth.