Minerva Theatre, Art Deco theater in Kings Cross, Sydney, Australia

The Minerva Theatre is an Art Deco Streamline Moderne building on Orwell Street in Kings Cross, designed by cinema specialists Crick & Furse and opened in 1939. Its exterior has a controlled geometric massing, and the tower is cited by the City of Sydney as one of the most successful Streamline Moderne structures realised in New South Wales. The auditorium shell survives, with a proscenium stage and two small side stages, and the theatre held only 1000 seats with lounge seating. In front, facing Macleay Street, stood the Minerva Cafe and Nightclub with a vaulted roof.

The Minerva Theatre opened on 18 May 1939 with Robert Sherwood's Idiot's Delight, in a building designed by cinema specialists Crick & Furse after Bruce Dellit's earlier plan was rejected. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer bought it in 1950 and renamed it the Metro Cinema; Harry M. Miller brought live theatre back in 1969 with the musical Hair. It stopped operating as a theatre in 1979.

The theatre's name came from Minerva Centre Ltd, the company David N Martin formed in 1937 to build two live theatres on opposite sides of Macleay Street. The Orwell Street site opened on 18 May 1939 with Robert Sherwood's Idiot's Delight, and from May 1941 Whitehall Theatrical Productions staged shows there for almost a decade. The vaulted-roof Minerva Cafe and Nightclub stood in front of it facing Macleay Street.

The building stands on Orwell Street in Kings Cross, a short walk from Kings Cross railway station. It is not open as a theatre: in November 2023 the City of Sydney approved conversion to a hotel and nightclub, and it was sold in July 2024. View the Streamline Moderne tower and shell from the street.

The building's interior was heritage-listed by the City of Sydney, and in 2019 the council nominated it to the NSW Heritage Register. That same year the Metro-Minerva Theatre Action Group formed to campaign for its return to use as a working theatre.