Heritage Majestic

The Majestic - a place that I used to take for granted when I visited Chinatown and the People's Park / People's Park Centre.
It turns out it has a romantic past ...

~~From Sunday Times (5 Aug 07)(photos thanks to ST)

**Built for an opera fan
The Cantonese opera house was built in 1927 by philanthropist Eu Tong Sen, a tin mining and rubber magnate, for his wife, an opera fan.
He also formed an opera troupe for her, bought the street on which the theatre sat and named it Eu Tong Sen Street.

**Swan and Maclaren, the leading architectural firm at the time, was commissioned to design the building.

**Originally known as 'Tin Yin Moh Toi', it could seat 1,194 people. The exterior walls are panelled with shiny and colourful mosaic depicting Cantonese opera scenes and Chinese dragons.

**In 1938, Shaw Brothers rented the place, renamed it Queen's Theatre and screened Cantonese films.

**The theatre was renamed Tai Hwa Opera House during World War II, when the Japanese took control of it.
It was leased to The Majestic Film Company, which lent the theatre its current name, shortly after the war ended in 1945.

**In 1956, Cathay Organisation bought the building from the Eu family for $1.1 million.

**During the 1950s and 1960s, the theatre was not only popular among the locals but also attracted film stars from Hong Kong.

**In 1983, Cathay Organisation became the sole owner after it bought out the partnership. The theatre continued screening Chinese films until 1998, when it was closed.

**On Jan 17, 2003, the Majestic Theatre was re-opened but as a shopping mall.

'The Majestic witnessed the various eras of Chinese entertainment. So it will be good if it becomes a museum showing the Chinese opera and theatre scene here in the 1930s and 1940s.' - said DR RICHARD EU, 84, whose father built The Majestic.