Telling it like it is
31 May 2010 - 8:43pm — debritz
Des Partridge, the longtime cinema critic for The Courier-Mail, has thrown his weight behind the Save the Regent cause. Here's some audio of him telling 4KQ's breakfast team of Laurel, Gary and Mark how this last-of-a-kind venue will be lost barring a last-minute change of heart by the State Government. As Des notes, not only are the Showcase (which, he confirms, does include material from the original Regent auditorium) and bar area set to be demolished but the Heritage-listed marble staircase is under threat by the development.
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Save and Restore
Save this very valuable heritage building.
Another Brisbane landmark to go the way the others did.
Why not restore this building to a working live venue, which Brisbane could do with.
PLEASE Anna, some action.......................
Restoration is the ONLY option
At the end of last night's SBS news, I saw a brief piece on the opening of the 2010 Sydney Film Festival - segments of which were filmed in both the foyer and main auditorium of the beautiful State Theatre. We could AND SHOULD have a venue like this in Brisbane. Commonsense and logic MUST take precedence over shortsighted greed. What little architectural history we have left MUST be preserved.
Save the Regent, Anna!
This is very simple. Either Anna Bligh and Stirling Hinchliffe immediately stop the development and restore the theatre, or their political careers are immediately over as they fall into absolute public disgrace.
There should be an independent inquiry on the heritage commission hearing for The Regent, as this building is almost entirely "Regent" heritage! It must be immediately heritage-listed as a public entertainment venue (for its continued long standing use as a cinema and theatre) and any remains of the original building saved (including the outer building shell facing Elizabeth Street and Queen Street, its facades, historic signage, moulded ornate ceiling features, lighting features, skirting boards and the interior of lounge bar and showcase theatre) - if not restored back to original single theatre format.
The Brisbane public demand a government / private partnership to secure in perpuity, restore and operate The Regent as the heart and heritage of Brisbane for future generations - and it needs to start now.
Last ideas ... anyone?
Des makes some excellent comments. I didn't know that Anna grew up in our southern "Developers' Paradise". Explains a lot about a lot really. Is there any last muscle we can throw at this cause to try and prevent the impending travesty?!
Apply pressure to the developer and its holdings
Multiplex is a major part of the consortium of developers for the Regent site. Multiplex owns a number of commercial properties - you can find them all on their website. These include the Portside Wharf complex at Hamilton, and the Great Western Shopping Centre at Keperra. Now imagine dropping flyers onto the windscreens of patrons of those complexes, urging them to write to Multiplex, write to the retailers in those centres, and suggest they might like to protest by withdrawing their custom from such places run by Multiplex. The retailers in those centres would then be pressuring Multiplex to "just make it go away"....
Save the Regent
SHAME!!!! on Brisbane, Queensland bureaucrats.Is there anything else we, as individuals could do at this late hour?
Save the Regent
I am sick to death of people ruining Brisbane. All we do is demolish beautiful old buildings and homes to make way for concrete eyesores. If we want to be like LA, then the politicians should cut the crap and just say that. Campbell Newman and Anna Bligh should be ashamed of themselves.
We can, and must, keep
We can, and must, keep bombarding the media and the politicians to let them know that this is an issue that won't go away. Also some people are working on other ideas; it sure ain't over yet.
Buy It
Everybody who wants to keep it should chip in and buy it at the market price. Otherwise the owner has the right to do what they like with it. This business of expropriating the right of people to use their private property as they wish in the name saving "our" heritage is basically akin to theft.
Landmark status
The point is "Buy It", the Regent is a buiding of State Interest - a landmark of importance to the city and, as a historic cultural and entertainment venue, unmatched by any other theatre/cinema (remaining) in this city.
To demolish the Showcase areas for the sake spiteful ownership rights is bordering on criminal and typical of the pagan ideals of many developers in this sad city. Bligh and Newman should act to stop the destruction - the community have spoken...