NEVER BUILT SYDNEY: 1960's tower proposal for Regent Theatre Site (1969)

The former site of the Regent Theatre in George Street is currently home to the Norman Foster designed Lumiere Residences and Fraser Suites. 

In the 1980's and 1990's there were several proposals to redevelop the site, which I plan to share in a future series on the site itself. Some readers may remember the attempts to save the theatre and proposals as the site lay idle throughout the 1990's and early 2000's.

Two decades prior to the demolition of the Regent, there was an attempt to demolish and replace the theatre and build a tower rising 40 levels above street level. The proposed height would be equivalent to the Lumiere Residences which rises around 150 metres from street level.

Below is an article from The Daily Telegraph from 1969 reporting on the proposed tower and that it was to be recommended for approval by Sydney City Council.

Source: Anon. 1969. "For Regent Site...Two Theatres Planned in 44-Storey Block". The Daily Telegraph, October 28: 7.

While this scheme would have seen the demolition the 1928 building, the scheme was advantageous in maintaining the presence of a theatre on the site but also acting as a live entertainment venue,

It is hard to predict what may have happened had the scheme gone ahead. Given the Regent Theatre was primarily used for films, a two screen cinema complex would have been unviable given the closure of city cinemas and the rise of multiplex cinemas in the decades ahead. It may have also provided Sydney with much needed entertainment space, especially as the decades wore on including live productions. Consider the lack of performance space in Sydney in 2021 which has made it difficult to attract live theatre (This will gain traction as the city returns to pre-COVID-19 normality). The theatre space itself would have had to be modified.

As for the office tower itself - It appears slender in the artists impression, similar to the adjoining Sydney County Council Building and the former Waterboard building. This office tower may be residential, unless it was given heritage listing.

1969: Original Redevelopment Scheme for the Regent Theatre

Here is a rare find in terms of skyscrapers that never saw the light of day. In 1969, there was a $12 million scheme to demolish the Regent Theatre, build two new theatres and have a 44 storey tower rising above it. Not only we would have lost a theatre but people of my generation having to put up with an aging visual eyesore above Town Hall Station. 

Normally I would post where I sourced the article from, but the only date that I have is from October 1969 and it's from The Daily Telegraph. This was from a time where I did not really feel a need to note exactly where and when the article came from. 

The Regent Theatre was demolished in 1989 to be replaced with an office tower, but the 1990-1991 recession and Sydney property crash left the site idle until 2004 when two apartment towers commenced construction. It was not until 2007 that the redevelopment of the site had been completed. 

The main tower would be Lumiere Residences (151 metres /47 stories) and Fraser Suites (114 metres/33 stories) designed by award-winning UK Architect Norman Foster.  There would be no theatre in the podium, but rather a retail complex - Regent Place.

Lumiere Residences. Photo was taken by the Author (2015).

2000: Hiding Sydney's "Holes in the Ground"

The collapse of the property market in the early 1990s led to the shelving of construction projects in central Sydney. Many of the sites had been excavated with no major construction. World Square was lucky to have parts of the basement built and a section of one of the four proposed towers.

Obviously, this led to the streetscape in sections of the city looking unappealing. However the Olympics led to a building boom during the late 1990s and still some sites were left empty.

Sydney City Council felt that the swarms of tourists descending on Sydney would be embarrassed by this sight and came up with a plan to erect temporary shops at street level at those sites as part of preparing the city for the Olympics.

One such site was the former site of the Regent Theatre (now Lumiere Residences). Seven temporary shops were constructed and lasted until 2004 when Frasers were able to commence construction on the site of a residential high-rise tower and a serviced apartment tower.

Here is a photo I took of the temporary shops in early 2003. Bookstores eventually moved to Railway Square. It is no longer there but Basement Books ensures that you can still get yourselves a cheap read.

Photo was taken by the Author.