Constructed as a cinema with ballroom beneath, the Regent boasts spectacular Moorish and Spanish Gothic interiors, which have been completely restored. We undertook the historical research and led the documentation team responsible for restoration.

Major tasks included documentation of the lost bronze light fittings (remade at a cost of over $1m), and designing and documenting the missing furniture, for which we managed an international tender. It was largely made in Turkey. Other work included the investigation of 1920s decorative painting techniques and their revival. The carpets were redesigned from fragments found under later layers.

To replace the missing Wurlitzer organ, once such a feature of picture palaces, an organ of similar age from a San Francisco theatre was located after months of detailed research. It has been installed together with a reconstruction of the Regent’s famous hydraulic orchestra pit.

RAIA (Victoria) Architecture Award 1997 : Conservation category : Merit Award, with DBI and Peck von Hartel Trethowan

Lovell Chen undertook further award-winning works at the Regent Theatre in 2019