Eric's Civic and other thoughts...!

Gary’s father, William T Leighton, was an architect with Bohringer, Taylor and Johnson, the firm that helped create Auckland’s Civic Theatre. He was known for his Art Deco work and created commercial and domestic buildings. William Leighton worked on a number of Western Australian cinemas including the Windsor in Nedlands, the Cygnet in South Perth, the Princess in Fremantle, and the Piccadilly Theatre and Arcade, Theatre Royal, Metro, Grand and Plaza Theatres in Perth, and the Lyric in Bunbury.

The restored art deco Astor cinema has now achieved its Centenary. In the late 1930s The Edwardian structure was one of a group of older theatres remodelled in the Art Deco style by William Leighton. Fifty years later the building, which later became known as the Astor Theatre, was refurbished with a complementary colour scheme based on Leighton’s original scheme and designed to attract contemporary audiences.

After an exhaustive tour of the Civic by the council Heritage Architect, George Farrant, they were guests at a delightful luncheon.  Venue was the magnificent residence, which is home to Chairman of trustees of the Friends of the Civic Charitable Trust, James Wallace, ONZM.

http://www.wallaceartstrust.org.nz

http://civicduties.blogspot.com/