Wellington's Embassy Theatre turns 100

On this day one hundred years ago, the Embassy Theatre opened its doors to Wellington movie-goers.

It was called the De Luxe at the time, and Cecil B. DeMille's 1923 silent feature The Ten Commandments was screening.

It would have been accompanied by a 14 or 15 piece orchestra, seated in front of the audience just below the screen.

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The Embassy has undergone numerous renovations in its time, including the name change after it changed ownership in the 1930s. But the vision of architect Llewellyn Williams remains largely intact.

"A lot of features in this theatre are still neoclassical. There's a sort of early Greek style with the big columns, but also the tiling, symmetry and the zigzaggy fretwork," said Alan Olliver, a member of the Mount Victoria Historical Society. Olliver researched the theatre for three months in the lead up to the centenary, spending hours in the archives combing through documents.

"It's the only 1920s theatre still operating in New Zealand."

Screen Wellington's Mark Westerby said that was what makes the Embassy so special.

"The way it has been cared for and looked after over the years, it's such an icon for Wellington City."

True to its time

Stepping off Kent Terrace on a particularly windy Wellington day, the Embassy Theatre's impressive foyer is an immediate reprieve.

Inside, it's quiet and dimly lit. White floor tiles contrast with dark walls and wood panelling around the doors, and two sweeping, marble staircases dominate either side of the room.

Above, there are several opulent chandeliers and an open mezzanine, which on a sunnier day would send light streaming into the foyer.

Upstairs and inside the original theatre, a lot has changed since 1924. The former orchestra pit is gone, that space now houses a smaller theatre downstairs.

The stall seats have also been removed, decreasing the capacity from its original 1800 to nearly 800 in the former dress circle.

Underneath the new floor, a cocktail bar occupies where the stall seats used to be.

"The theatre had to start innovating pretty much immediately after it opened," said Olliver.

"They built the theatre for silent movies that would be accompanied by an orchestra. That lasted two or three years.

"Then they bought a Wurlitzer organ for £10,000 - which was a tenth of what it cost to build the whole thing just two years before.

"And two years after that, sound came along. They still continued doing pre-session entertainment and interval entertainment right up to the 1950s, but the organ wasn't needed for the movies anymore."

William Robert Kennedy, who owned the Embassy and several other theatres around New Zealand was the first to install sound systems and play the talkies.

TV competition

By the 1960s's Kennedy's spending habits had caught up with him and his cinemas had been bought by rival Robert Kerridge.

It wasn't all smooth sailing for Kerridge. TVs were growing in popularity, and people didn't feel the need to attend the cinema so often. In a bid to combat the declining visitor numbers, the Embassy became home to New Zealand's first 70mm screen - a high resolution film gauge which was a predecessor to iMax.

That wasn't the Embassy's first foray into innovation. Early in its life, to comply with modernising fire safety regulations, an employee developed the first 'panic bar' emergency exit door. The design, which relies on a metal bar being pushed in to release bolts and open the door, is still used to this day.

"It's disputed whether he was the first to invent it or not, and he wasn't very good with patents. So he doesn't get any recognition - and he definitely didn't get any money from it," Olliver said.

From community effort to international recognition

The Embassy has been paving the way for New Zealand cinemas for a century. But it's only in the last 20 years that it has gained international recognition.

In 2003, the world premiere of the final part of the Lord of the Rings trilogy, The Return of the King, took over the theatre.

"From where it sits at the end of Courtenay Place, it just has the right vibe to have a premiere," said Westerby.

"And of course, they totally utilised that by putting down one of the longest red carpets I've ever seen, all the way down Courtenay Place."

The theatre has gone on to host several world premieres for Sir Peter Jackson's films, including King Kong (2005), The Lovely Bones (2009) and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012).

All of this was made possible through the help of the community.

In the mid-1990s the Embassy was in trouble. It had been bought by an investment company with a view to providing a new home for the Royal New Zealand Ballet. This didn't eventuate, with the ballet choosing to base themselves at the St James Theatre down the road instead.

Worried for the building's future, a group of prominent locals, led by lawyer Bill Sheat, formed the Embassy Theatre Trust. They bought the building with the help of the city council and spent the next five years restoring and strengthening it.

Despite some financial issues and fundraising setbacks, the venue was refurbished enough to host the 2003 Lord of the Rings premiere. And in 2004, the Council took over ownership - which they retain today.

But the work is never complete, and in 2022, a loan of more than a million dollars from former mayor Kerry Prendergast and her husband Rex Nicholls allowed the ground-floor facade to be restored, including the original outdoor ticket booth.

Prendergast and Nicholls are being paid back by revenue from a sign on the top of the building and Nicholls hopes it outlives their loan.

"I would like to think that the income is retained to maintain the building. There is a lot of upkeep on an old building like that."

It's a true heritage building for Wellington and with its newly refurbished entranceway, stepping through the doors feels like a journey back in time.

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