The Capitol, Melbourne

The Capitol

RMIT Building 113
Auditorium ceiling
Address	113 Swanston Street Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
Coordinates	37°48′55″S 144°57′59″E / 37.81536°S 144.96636°E / -37.81536; 144.96636
Owner	RMIT University
Designation	Victorian Heritage Register
Capacity	554 and 8 accessible spaces
Current use	Education, events
Construction
Opened	1924
Architect	Walter Burley Griffin Marion Mahony Griffin

The Capitol is a theatre on Swanston Street in the central business district (CBD) of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Opened in 1924 as part of the Capitol House building, the theatre was designed by American husband and wife architects Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin. It is the oldest of Melbourne's large picture palaces and is known for its extravagant decor and abstract motifs, including an intricate geometric ceiling containing thousands of coloured lights designed to evoke the walls of a crystalline cave.

Proposals in the early 1960s to demolish the theatre sparked one of Australia's first major heritage conservation campaigns, co-led by architect and critic Robin Boyd, who called the Capitol "the best cinema that was ever built or is ever likely to be built".^[1] While the cinema was saved, its seating capacity was reduced and parts of the original ground level foyer were replaced by a shopping arcade. RMIT University purchased The Capitol in 1999 for use as a lecture theatre, and in 2014 it was closed to undergo an extensive five-year restoration and upgrade. The Capitol reopened in 2019 and has since hosted various film festival screenings, theatrical performances, live music and other events.

The Capitol is registered with the Australian Heritage Council, the National Trust of Australia and Heritage Victoria, which describes its avant-garde design as "extremely unusual in the realm of theatres and cinemas worldwide" and "a technical triumph".^[2]