FROM CHURCH TO THEATRE.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1150, 10 June 1911, Page 14

FROM CHURCH TO THEATRE.

THE PASSING OF A CITY BUILDING

His Majesty's Theatre, t'lio highly ornate wooden structure in Courlenay Place where tho permanent picture show in Wellington was llrst established, is to be rased to the ground in a week or two to make way for a more commqdiws and convenient' structure.- This building carries-its age well. It was erected m the year 187!) as a place of worship for the 'United Methodist I'ree Church, a denomination which began work in the l)ominion in tho 'seventies. The Rev. H. B. Bedstone, still a halo bud hearfy resident, of Wellington, was its pastor. He had been in Napier for some three years, when he was invited to come to Wellington and establish a branch of his church here. Ho answered the call, and initiated the charge in the old Foresters' llall on La nib ton Quay, andii fe-.v weeks later in tho Oddfellows' Hall, in tho same vicinity. As the congregation grew lie judged that they should have a home of their own, and noting the trend of the city's growth, ho pitched upon Courtenay Place as a quarter of the city in which to build. To judge of his wisdom one has only t'o walk along that busy city thoroughfare to-day. The land (117 ft. frontage by 132 ft. depth) was purchased for .SliSiO, from Sir. Burgess, then of tho Lower Ilutt. The two cottages which stood on .the section were! removed, a lai'ge schoolroom was first built, and then the church (erected by !Mr. Jacobsen from tho plans of Mr. Jones). For mnny years service was held regularly by Mr. Bedstone and other pastors, and on tho union with the other Methodist churches, .the property was sold, the bulk of tho money going to pay off tho mortgage. It was finally bought' by Messrs._ Fuller ,and Sons, who transformed it into a 'vaudeville theatre, and more recently into a moving picture theatre.