The Carlton Cinema

ROCKHAPPENZ Public Collection

The Crystal Palace  —  75 Cathedral Square, Christchurch

The Crystal Palace, later known as The Greater Crystal Palace, All-British Theatre, and Carlton Cinema, was a prominent cinema and theatre located at 75 Cathedral Square in central Christchurch, New Zealand.  Opened on 6 April 1918 with an original capacity of 1,088 seats, it was designed in renaissance revival style with italianate classical elements by architect John Steele Guthrie and built by Crystal Palace Limited, featuring a distinctive 32-meter-high decorative tower modeled on The Tower of Jewels at the 1915 Panama-Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco and illuminated by seven floodlights, along with ornate interiors including venetian murals, electric fountains.  As New Zealand's first cinema dedicated to screening British films from 1932 onward, it played a key role in the local entertainment scene during the silent film era, employing a 20-piece orchestra for live accompaniment and introducing sound films with the screening of In Old Arizona in August 1929.

The Crystal Palace - photograph from 1930

The venue underwent several ownership changes, including acquisition by J.C. Williamson Pictures Corporation in 1935 (when seating was reduced to 930) and Amalgamated Theatres in 1936, followed by further modernization in 1963 that reduced seating to 804 and renamed it The Carlton Theatre.