Roseville Cinemas Information

Roseville Cinemas has long been a fixture of the North Shore community. The building was originally erected in the early 1900's by Kuring-Gai council to serve as the Town Hall for the area. It was used for dances and festivities, a meeting place for locals, and for Roseville College events. When World War I broke out, the first Australian recruitment drive for soldiers was held in the building. In 1919 after the war, it was renamed Traynor's Picture Palace, and thus began the journey to becoming the cinema we know and love. In 1936 DB O'Connor, (a pioneer of Australian film production,) renovated it in beautiful Art Deco style to a large theatre with a seating capacity of over 500 people. Since then, it has remained a family owned business. In the early 70's ownership passed on to Hans van Pinxteren and his family, who have been running it for two generations to the present day. In 1995 it was converted to a twin cinema, and just recently in 2011 it underwent a massive overhaul, replacing both ageing film projectors with state-of-the-art digital technology. The building is one of the few surviving independent cinemas in Sydney's suburbs, resisting the encroachment of multiplexes by dedication to showing a range of top-quality local and foreign films, and continues to be an important part of the community.