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Palais de Danse, St Kilda

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Palais de Danse, St Kilda
Palais de Danse c1930
Map
AddressLower Esplanade, St Kilda
Coordinates37°52′02″S 144°58′32″E / 37.867196°S 144.975677°E / -37.867196; 144.975677
Construction
Opened1920
Demolished1969
ArchitectWalter Burley Griffin (interior)

The Palais de Danse was a large dance hall located next to the Palais Theatre in the entertainment precinct of the foreshore of St Kilda, a beachside inner suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Built in 1919, it featured a remarkable geometric interior created in 1920 by the renowned architects Walter Burley Griffin and his wife, Marion Griffin (1871–1961), and it was a popular entertainment venue throughout the early 20th century. The building was destroyed by fire in 1969.

History

The site of the current 1927 Palais Theatre, and the site adjacent, on the Lower Esplanade St Kilda, hosted a succession of four different buildings using the name Palais between 1913 and 1927, all built by the Phillips brothers.[1]

The first was the Palais de Danse, a timber, arched roofed structure built in 1913 on the site later occupied by the Palais Theatre. In 1915, during WW1, management thought it more appropriate to show films instead, when it became the first Palais Theatre.[1] This proved such a very popular choice that in 1919 it was decided to replace the auditorium with a much larger building. This was constructed as a large steel-framed arched structure over the top of the original, allowing the movies to continue uninterrupted.[2]

On completion of the new structure, the earlier building was disassembled except for the first bay containing the foyer, which was then relocated next door to become the Palais de Danse (again), while the new larger arched building became the Palais Pictures. The Palais Pictures building was destroyed by fire in 1926, and rebuilt in 1927, the present Palais Theatre.[1]

The Palais de Danse could hold as many as 2,870 patrons, and was a popular venue throughout its life, and is remembered for its magical atmosphere.[1] On hot nights, the louvered wall panels hinged up, to capture sea breezes wafting off the bay.[1]

An extension to the rear c1962 created a second venue called the Stardust Lounge. The whole building was destroyed by fire in 1969,[3] and a new entertainment venue opened on the site in 1972, called The Palace, which itself was also destroyed by fire in 2007.

1969 fire seen from behind

There was another entertainment structure nearby that alose ised the name Palais - the Wattle Path Palais de Danse on the Upper Esplanade, which opened in 1923 and operated until 1933,[4][5][6] when it was converted into film studios,[7] later becoming the St Moritz Ice Rink. Also located on the Lower Esplanade was the Daylight Pictures Co. open-air cinema, which in 1914 was converted to a live venue, the Comedy Theatre,[8][9] but appears to have had a brief life.

Architecture

Palais de Danse interior c1920

The 1919 Palais de Danse exterior (designer unknown) was dominated by a large arched form following that of the roof, anchored by large square piers each side, decorated with delicate classical details, and topped by fanciful stepped turrets.[10]

The interior design created c1920 was designed by the renowned American-Australian architect Walter Burley Griffin (1876–1937) and his wife, Marion Griffin (1871–1961).[11] The dance floor was surrounded by seating areas behind abstracted fluted Doric columns, which supported a remarkable frieze of complex, prismatic, up-lit panels. The ceiling, at first just the exposed metal trusses of the roof, was soon concealed by low pitched angled ribbing, from which hung three rows of large geometrically decorated prismatic lamps.[1][12]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f Peterson, Richard; St. Kilda Historical Society (2005). A place of sensuous resort : buildings of St Kilda and their people (Reprinted with corrections ed.). St Kilda Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-9751060-6-8.
  2. ^ "Palais de Danse Pictures". www.stkildahistory.org.au. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  3. ^ "Palais Theatre Lower Esplanade". Buildings of St Kilda and Their People. Retrieved 8 April 2012.
  4. ^ "Classified Advertising". The Argus (Melbourne). No. 23, 785. Victoria, Australia. 28 October 1922. p. 21. Retrieved 16 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ "Wattle Path Palais". The Herald. No. 14, 496. Victoria, Australia. 1 November 1923. p. 8. Retrieved 16 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia. There were more than 5000 on the dancing floor...
  6. ^ "New dancing palais for St. Kilda". The Herald. No. 14, 714. Victoria, Australia. 16 May 1923. p. 14. Retrieved 16 April 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
  7. ^ "Making Films at St. Kilda". The Argus. Melbourne: National Library of Australia. 29 December 1933. p. 6. Retrieved 15 December 2015. Hollywood does not seem to be so far away now that Efftee has moved in to the old Wattle Path Palais building on the Esplanade at St. Kilda.
  8. ^ "Comedy Theatre". The Prahran Telegraph. Vol. 53, no. 2764. Victoria, Australia. 17 October 1914. p. 5. Retrieved 23 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  9. ^ "Comedy Theatre". Malvern Standard. Vol. 16, no. 43. Victoria, Australia. 24 October 1914. p. 5. Retrieved 23 February 2019 – via National Library of Australia.
  10. ^ "Palais de Danse exterior view c1920". National Library of Australia.
  11. ^ "Lives & Works". Walter Burley Griffin Society Incorporated. 1988. Archived from the original on 27 June 2019. Retrieved 4 April 2012.
  12. ^ "Palais de Danse interior c1921". National Library of Australia.
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