The 'Suburban Secrets - Art Trail & History Walk'

The 'Suburban Secrets - Art Trail & History Walk' project resulted in the creation of textile-based artworks, including Pub to Pub – A Street Scape, Survey Circa 1935, Ribbon Grants – Original Land, and the display of old Inglewood photographs in shop and office windows along 803 -1004 Beaufort St in Inglewood, Western Australia. You can still embark on this self-guided walk by accessing the map and floor sheet with images on Louise Wells' website (louisewells.com) and compare the captivating old photographs of Inglewood to its current landscape.

During the Call and Response project, many of us artists found inspiration from both the 1939 photograph and the story behind The Clock Tower. You can find the tower represented in a few of the artworks shown during the exhibition.

The history of The Clock Tower told by Louise Wells: The Piccadilly Picture Gardens built in 1926 by Thomas James Snooks (1890–1958) a local picture-show man and builder-developer from the 1910s to the 1940s. It was one of the first outdoor film-showing venues in the inner north-eastern suburbs. It was built to resemble a castle, clad in appropriately painted corrugated iron. The gardens were damaged by a fire on 5 January 1928.

The Civic Theatre (currently known as The Clock Tower) and Gardens, opened on Saturday 28th March 1936 comprising of the indoor theatre, the rebuilt open-air picture garden, two shops with dwellings, three lock-up shops and a suite of offices with separate entrance. The Civic Theatre had 932 seats, and Gardens 1,004 seats. Newspaper Article – source Trove Artistic and Comfortable Entering from Beaufort-street, one is impressed by the spaciousness of the lounge, with walls of texture finish in bronze and gold. To the right patrons pass to the picture garden; on the left, a wide sweeping staircase leads to the circle of the theatre”. Owing to the demise of suburban cinemas in the face of television they were closed on 1 June 1962, the closing films “Blue Hawaii” and “Tokyo After Dark”.

In 1969 the building became Max Kay’s Civic Theatre Restaurant until 1987. By the 1990s there was a motorbike shop in the theatre and a fancy dress hire shop on the first floor. The Piccadilly Gardens were demolished around 1962 retaining the clock tower. The heritage building was redeveloped (2006–2008) as residential apartments.

Kamila Waleszkiewicz after Louise Wells