Behind the Scaffold

RECENTLY scone.com.au accompanied a documentary maker into the Civic theatre in Scone to take a look at the progress being made restoring the iconic 1938 building.

See images at the end of the story.

The documentary will chronicle art deco theatres across New South Wales, with many now converted to electronic stores, apartments and office spaces the Civic in Scone is the last remaining theatre intact and the focus of careful restoration.

The current focus of the restoration work is re-rendering the facade of the building which has involved assessing the original render, finding a drummy render on the market to ensure it was true to the original render, assessment by a masonry engineer, certification with a heritage architect, recreating templates for the ornate masonry designs and even making timber tools which are no longer available to buy.

In the next few months the masonry work on the front of the building will be complete, it will be painted, a neon sign will once again take pride of place on the building and work will move to the rest of the exterior and to the lower interior of the building.

Andrew McPhee the principle contractor for the building said the town is fortunate the owner of the building pays such attention to detail.

“Things are moving along well for the enormity of it and it will look pretty spectacular,” said Mr McPhee.

“Minas (Coroneo) puts a lot of emphasis into the detail, the neon light will have a sunset switch to come on automatically every night and then automatically switch off,” he said.

“He is an ex Scone High boy, he loves the place and we’re lucky to have someone that will do it up well.

“The owner has expended substantial funds just in planning the exterior with engineers and certifications, architects which will continue with each stage.

“We are fortunate someone is willing to spend the money on it and probably never get it back,” he said.

“Restoration of a heritage item is very costly and the significance that the Office of Environment and Heritage places on the building,” he said.

“Once the front of the building is done the rest of the rendering will be much quicker and easier and then we will also start on the interior,”he said.

“There is about ten times the work doing the front of the building compared to the rest of the building,”he said.

“Downstairs we will start restoration, do the foyer entry, toilets, extra ladies amenities, extend the stage out for extra curtain drop for plays,” Andrew McPhee said.

Minas Coroneo AO grew up in Scone and inherited the building from his parents Theo and Anna, who came to settle in Scone from Greece at a young age.

His parents contributed significantly to the township and ran the movie theatre for decades including the premier screening of the Shiralee, which was filmed in Scone.

Professor Coroneo said he wanted the building restored in remembrance of his parents.

“When I thought about what my parents contribution to the town I realized that their lasting contribution is that they kept the Civic intact, so its restoration is of special significance to my family,” he said.

“And I want the people to once again use the building, for people to be coming in and out for events and a nice night out,” he said.

“There are many stages of plans for the building and it is possible that it may return to being an operational movie theatre, but first we will restore the outside and the interior downstairs so that functions and plays can be held there,” he said.

“There are other stages that will look at restoring upstairs and having movies, but it depends on getting the initial stages done and then we need to weigh up the costs of installing everything to make it into a movie theatre,” he said.

“We may be able to turn the upstairs section into a place for people to enjoy a lovely meal, we need to take things one step at a time at this stage,” Minas Coroneo said.

The roof will be completely replaced, the old air conditioner removed and replaced with a new system and permanent bridges placed over Figtree Gully at the rear of the building to utilise the back area to service the main building.

While the building is deemed to be of State significance from the Office of Environment and Heritage, because it is privately owned it is not eligible for most government grants and the cost of restoration rests completely with the owner.