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Marine House was built in Leake Street in 1890. It occupied lots 403-405, on the middle of the south side of the street.
Cinema
What follows is the whole entry, unedited, for this former cinema from the ammpt (Australian Museum Of Motion Picture & Television Inc.) site - not as an act of copyright theft but as a backup. Websites often disappear for various reasons.
The Olympia Roller Skating Rink on Lots 403-405 Leake St, was converted into a moving picture venue by the Star Amusement Co, and opened under the direction of C.Sudholz on 11 December 1909. The building was huge and cavernous, and in the conversion attempts were made to soften this effect:
The roof is being taken off the building in order to make the auditorium as cool as possible. Another feature is the new complete electric lighting plant which the company are installing to provide especially powerful light for their new machines. The Olympia Orchestral Band is rehearsing for the opening. (West Australian, 4 December 1909)
…the building has been structurally altered and the seating accommodation so arranged as to enable patrons to obtain a clear and uninterrupted view of the concert platform and screen. (West Australian, 15 January 1910)
The films were the same as those screened by the company at the Star Rink in Perth the previous week. Renovations further expanded the capacity of the building in March 1910, and for several years it presented films from August to the end of March, and skating for the rest of the year. In August 1913 an experiment was tried (advertised as ‘The very latest craze from London’, West Australian 2 Aug. 1913) of combining films and skating, but that does not seem to have lasted long. The advertisement for the ‘Grand Re-opening’ of Cecil’s Y.A.L.Pictures on Saturday 4 October 1913 was also the last advertisement for films in the venue. Later, the premises were used as a warehouse and offices.
During that part of the year when films were not shown at the rink, Olympia Pictures presented their programmes in the Victoria Hall.
Sources: Post Office Directory, 1913 – 1917
West Australian, 4 Dec. 1909 – 4 Oct. 1913
Photos: 1 exterior (Victoria Hall), colour, 1981 (Bill Turner)
The extant two-storey building is now called Marine House. (There is another Marine House at 1 Essex Street - and was yet another in Pakenham Street?)
Heritage Council:
The Fremantle Providoring Company was at 7-9 Leake Street.
1890 council rate books list a warehouse and offices (new). It is unclear whether the warehouse was replaced, or whether offices were added to the front of the warehouse. The number of buildings on the lots increased over the following years. The 1905-06 rates records show warehouses and offices on lot 403 and 404, and six old cottages on lot 405. All the buildings were occupied by the Vacuum Oil Co.
By 1910 lots 404 & 405 were owned by Jane Marion Waldeck and John Joseph Higham, and occupied by the Olympia skating rink, which appear to have been built on lots 405 and 406, and operated until at least 1915. (Currently 'Olympia' shops and apartments).
The Fremantle Provedoring Co occupied the building in 1920. The property remained in the Waldeck family until the 1950s.
My snap 2017. To the left of Marine House is the back of the temporary police station (formerly a branch of the [[../banks/national16high.html|National Australia]] bank, in [[../westend/high.html|High Street]]).
Heritage Council continues:
Two storey rendered building with a decorative parapet and pediment and a zero setback from the pavement. The ground floor features; ashlar effect rendering and a central entrance with arched fanlights over the paneled doors and sash windows. The first floor has engaged pilasters flanking the recessed and arched windows and fanlights.
The place is of historic significance as an example of a commercial building in the Old Port City of Fremantle dating from the gold boom period in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The place is significant because, when viewed from the street, it is a substantially intact example of a commercial building which contributes to the very significant Old Port City of Fremantle. The place is of social significance as evidenced by its classification by the National Trust. Heritage Council.
Three men outside the premises of the Fremantle Providoring Company, Ships Chandlers. The company was established in Leake Street in the 1920s. W. Mulligan was the manager. They contracted to all leading shipping companies for the supply of fresh vegetables, fruit and fish. Fremantle Library caption and photo c. 1930, ref. no. 1999. >
References
- ↑ John Dowson Old Fremantle: Photographs 1850-1950 2003 (University of Western Australia Press, Crawley)
Heritage Council page
Australian Museum Of Motion Picture & Television Inc.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 25 May, 2020 and hosted at freotopia.org/buildings/olympia.html (it was last updated on 3 April, 2024), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.
This page incorporates material from Garry Gillard's Freotopia website, that he started in 2014 and the contents of which he donated to Wikimedia Australia in 2024. The content was originally created on 30 September, 2017 and hosted at freotopia.org/buildings/marinehouse.html (it was last updated on 3 April, 2024), and has been edited since it was imported here (see page history). The donated data is also preserved in the Internet Archive's collection.