Lyceum Theatre, Sydney
The Lyceum was a live theatre in Sydney, Australia, which became the Sydney City Mission for the Methodist Church.
History
[edit]On 26 December 1892 the Thomson Brothers opened the Lyceum Theatre Hotel,[1] with which was incorporated the Lyceum Theatre, at 214 Pitt Street, adjacent Tattersall's, between Park and Market streets.[2] It was marked by the reunion of the J. C. Williamson and George Musgrove interests, in presenting the pantomime Little Red Riding Hood.[3]
In 1905 the hotel and theatre were purchased for £30,000[4] by Ebenezer Vickery, a devout Methodist, who immediately surrendered its licence and cleared the bars, demonstrating his sense of justice by fully compensating the licensee,[5] and donated it to the church for their City Mission.
Pitt Street must have seemed a daunting prospect to the missionaries, beset with betting shops and two-up schools, hotels and theatres, brothels and dance halls,[6] yet Rev. David O'Donnell (died 1914)[7] succeeded in drawing crowds by his fiery oratory.
In 1906 a three-manual pipe organ by George Fincham and Son was installed.[8] Architect Reid was engaged to remodel the Castlereagh Street frontage, to create a 2,500-seat auditorium and dozens of offices.[9] Vickery died that year.
The building was officially handed over on Friday 17 April 1908, under conditions of peppercorn rent to 1915, when the freehold would be transferred by Vickery's trustees, three sons and a grandson. 1915 was named as the centenary of the arrival of Rev. Samuel Leigh and establishment of Australia's first Methodist circuit.[10] The building, or at least the Castlereagh Street end, was renamed "Vickery Mission Settlement" in 1908.
It was used as a cinema, "Spencer's Pictures"[11] in 1908.
Notes
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "Advertising". Newcastle Morning Herald and Miners' Advocate. No. 6325. New South Wales, Australia. 22 January 1895. p. 1. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Advertising". The Daily Telegraph (Sydney). No. 4226. New South Wales, Australia. 11 January 1893. p. 7. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "The Lyceum Pantomime". The Evening News. No. 7979. New South Wales, Australia. 27 December 1892. p. 3. Retrieved 19 September 2021 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Rev. D. O'Donnell's Visit". The Pioneer. Vol. X, no. 525. South Australia. 16 May 1908. p. 2. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Wise and Otherwise". The Wyalong Star and Temora and Barmedman Advertiser. Vol. XII, no. 63. New South Wales, Australia. 11 August 1905. p. 2. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Two-Minute Chats". The Australian Star. No. 5869. New South Wales, Australia. 4 December 1906. p. 1. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "In Memoriam". Spectator and Methodist Chronicle. Vol. XLI, no. 30. Victoria, Australia. 24 July 1914. p. 1187. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Lyceum Hall". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 21, 221. New South Wales, Australia. 12 March 1906. p. 3. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Future of the Lyceum". The Sydney Morning Herald. No. 21, 543. New South Wales, Australia. 4 February 1907. p. 6. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "Opening of the Lyceum Hall". The Methodist. Vol. XVII, no. 16. New South Wales, Australia. 18 April 1908. p. 2. Retrieved 29 September 2024 – via National Library of Australia.
- ^ "An Old Sydney Playhouse". The Referee. No. 1317. New South Wales, Australia. 31 January 1912. p. 16. Retrieved 23 March 2021 – via National Library of Australia.