Central Hall, Heritage-listed Victorian Free Classical building in Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia.
Central Hall stands as an architectural structure in Fitzroy featuring Victorian Free Classical design elements including symmetrical facades, ornamental columns, and decorative cornices that exemplify nineteenth-century construction techniques.
Planned from 1901 by Archbishop Thomas Carr, the hall was built behind a former boot factory of 1873 on Brunswick Street, bought for £4,200. Its foundation stone was laid on 26 April 1903, and it opened on 10 April 1904. From the 1960s it was called Central Hall, hosting the T. F. Much Ballroom in the early 1970s.
The hall's name changed from Cathedral Hall to Central Hall in the 1960s. In the 1920s it hosted jazz nights, and after the war Italian dances were held there every Sunday night for years. From 1970 to 1971 Daddy Cool made its name at the T. F. Much Ballroom events, alongside Spectrum, Midnight Oil and Tamam Shud.
Central Hall sits at the end of Brunswick Street in Fitzroy, within the City of Yarra. It is part of Australian Catholic University's St. Patrick's Campus and is regularly used for the university's theatrical activities; the Recital Room (formerly the Supper Room) accommodates music students and other classes when necessary. The hall was added to the Victorian Heritage Register in 2003.
The hall's ceiling, proscenium and balcony plasterwork, described in 1904 as being in the German Renaissance style, was repainted in shades of sage green, cream and buff in 1913. The front on Brunswick Street is a former boot factory of 1873 by Reed & Barnes, refaced for the hall.
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