# H. Vivian Taylor & Soilleux

H. Vivian Taylor & Soilleux was an architectural firm in Melbourne, Australia, noted for producing some of the most stylish Art Deco cinemas in 1930s Australia, all now demolished or extensively altered except one.
The Encyclopedia of Australian Architecture states that Hugh Vivian Taylor formed a partnership with fellow Melbourne architect, Garnet Argyle Soilleux in 1925. However, from contemporary newspapers articles and the H Vivian Taylor collection of drawings at the State Library of Victoria, they seemed to work independently until 1928. In 1933, young architect Best Overend, who had earlier articled with Taylor and just returned form a period living and working in London with noted modern firms, joined as a partner, with the practice operating as Taylor, Soilleux & Overend. This partnership continued until 1937, when Overend departed overseas again, and the firm returned to the previous name. For many years they operated out of an office in Little Collins Street in Melbourne. With the onset of WWII, the firm was wound up in 1941.
From 1928 Taylor became the first appears as a specialist in architectural acoustics, and with the introduction of sound to movies in Australia in 1929, the firm became busy refurbishing cinemas and theatres that had not been designed with any consideration for the way sound would bounce around the space. He gave a lecture to the Architects Institute on the topic in 1932. An early example was the 'acoustical treatment' of the Crown Theatre in Victoria Street, Richmond (much later known as the Valhalla) in 1931, and another the remodeling of the 1914 Palace Theatre in North Fitzroy with 'sound absorbing materials' in 1933. The firm is thought to have acted as acoustic consultants for other architects and theatre owners for hundreds of cinemas and theatres right across Australia. An example of this was consulting with C N Hollinshead & Albion Walkley on the reconstruction of the auditorium of His Majesty's Theatre in Exhibition Street in 1934.
The firm also designed numerous complete cinemas in Melbourne and elsewhere in Australia, which were not only acoustically considered, but amongst the most stylish and innovative of the many designed in the Art Deco style in the 1930s. The auditorium interiors were particularly notable, some featuring complex curved lines and forms and unique patterns, for instance the ceiling decoration at the Rivoli is composed of interlocking cog wheels. The exteriors of the Rivoli in East Hawthorn and the Ozone in Mildura were also notable for featuring bolly modelled forms in Moderne striped brickwork. Six of their theatres featured very unusual freestanding ticket boxes in the foyers, for instance in the form of a sphere, a teardrop, and a crystalline pillar.
With the arrival of the outer suburban Drive-In and then television in 1956, audiences for independent cinemas dramatically declined through the 1960s leading to the closure and alteration or demolition of the majority of interwar cinemas across the country, including almost all that were designed by the firm. Their major legacy is the heritage listed Rivoli Theatre in Hawthorn East.

## Cinema projects

Taylor, Soilleux & Overend
1935 : Carnegie Theatre, Woorayl Street, Carnegie, Melbourne (internal reconstruction of an earlier theatre). Closed 1959, demolished 1985.
1936 : Hoyts Windsor Theatre, corner Albert & Peel Streets, Windsor, Melbourne. Closed 1962, demolished 1992
1937 : Regal Hartwell, corner Camberwell and Toorak Roads, Camberwell, Melbourne. Closed 1959, later demolished.
1937 : Padua Theatre, 214 Sydney Road, Brunswick, Melbourne. 1969 became Metropolitan Theatre, screening Italian language films. Demolished 1982.
1937 : Hoyts Albury, 483 Olive Street, Albury, NSW. Demolished 1974.
Taylor & Soilleux
1938 : Oriana Theatre, High Street Fremantle, Western Australia. Remodeled 1949, demolished 1972.
1938 : Ozone, Langtree Avenue, Mildura. Closed 1971, later demolished.
1939 : Hoyts Park Theatre, 319 Montague Street, Albert Park, Melbourne. Demolished 1962
1940 : Rivoli Theatre, 200 Camberwell Road, East Hawthorn, Melbourne. Twinned 1968.
1940 : Century Newsreel Theatre, basement of the Century Building, 125 Swanston Street, Melbourne. Closed 1985, converted into a music venue.
As consultants / collaborators
1937 : With William G. Bennett, Hoyts Plaza Theatre, Plaza Arcade, Hay Street, Perth. 1965 renamed Paris theatre, closed 1984, elements still exist.
1939 : With W E Gower, Yallourn Theatre, Town Square, Yallourn., Victoria. Closed 1979, demolished 1983.
1941 : With Nevillle Hollinshead, Maling Theatre, Maling Road, Canterbury. Closed 1959, destroyed by fire 1990.

## Gallery

* Carnegie Theatre, c1935
* Padua Brunswick, ticket box
* Padua Theatre, Brunswick, auditorium.
* Ozone Theatre, Mildura