Battle for the Athenaeum just beginning

The closure of Sorrento’s Athenaeum cinema on April 25 was a blow to the community, but now comes the fight to preserve the 1894 heritagelisted building.

The last film shown was Hotel Sorrento, Richard Franklin’s 1995 drama based on Hannie Rayson’s 1990 play about three sisters reuniting in a sleepy town after 10 years. The movie was shot in Sorrento and Melbourne. Teary patrons blamed the movie; others blamed the closure.

Public submissions to Heritage Victoria closed recently and it will now make recommendations to the Heritage Council of Victoria. HV is a business unit in the State Government’s Department of Transport and Planning and administers the Heritage Act.

The Heritage Council of Victoria advises the planning minister on protection and conservation of cultural heritage and decides which places and objects go on the Victorian Heritage Register. It frequently liaises with Heritage Victoria, but the government says “protocols have been developed to ensure independence is maintained for the Heritage Council’s decision-making”.

The Heritage Council may not agree with HV’s recommendations and this could spark a hearing. Any decision might take many months, perhaps next year.

New owner DeGroup is asking the government to let it demolish part of the heritage building and build shops. Colin DeLutis’s DeGroup reportedly paid $11 million in 2022 for the Athenaeum.

In 2017 the cinema was sold for $5 million by its long-time owner, Village Roadshow founder and majority owner the Kirby family. Village Roadshow was founded by the late Roc Kirby, who turned a small family-run cinema business on the Peninsula into an entertainment giant, taking it public in 1989. His sons Robert and John ran the company for many years, but Village was bought by a private equity firm in 2020 after the pandemic wrecked the cinema business. Village owned and operated Movie World, Wet ‘n’ Wild, Sea World and a chain of Victorian cinemas.

The Athenaeum had been running at a loss for many years. Most major cinema companies were contacted before the decision to close was made, it was reported. Some residents want the proposal rejected and the building to become a community or arts centre. A library is one idea. Others are pleased it will be restored with the facade and some heritage features retained. A Sorrento residents’ online page has been running hot with complaints and debate.

Nepean Conservation Group president Ursula de Jong said the Athenaeum is on the Victorian Heritage Register. “The Athenaeum and Continental Hotel are the only Sorrento places on the register,” she said. “Heritage Victoria has received hundreds of submissions, including from the shire council, opposing the application for partial demolition and changing use of the building from cinema to retail.”

Sorrento stalwart Marilyn Cunnington said it was a great loss to the town. “The cinema has hosted fundraisers for charities and service clubs such as Red Cross, Rotary and Probus for many years.”

The multi-purpose Athenaeum was built of rough-hewn Sorrento limestone with brick dressings to a design by Melbourne architect J. F. Gibbins for Isaac Bensilum, a shire councillor, hotelier and entrepreneur. It had an auditorium, foyer, ‘retiring rooms’, a deep stage with dressing and storerooms underneath, and two shops with residences above. Silent films were shown in the 1920s and ‘talking pictures’ from 1932, when Moderne alterations were made and new equipment installed. The interior has both original and Moderne detailing.

Extensive renovations in the mid-1990s included repainting, new fittings including Moderne lights, a wide screen in front of the early proscenium, and the addition of two new cinemas in an adjoining building.