H. Vivian Taylor & Soilleux

In 1925, Hugh Vivian Taylor formed a partnership with fellow Melbourne architect, Garnet Argyle Soilleux, a collaboration that lasted for many years and had a significant impact on Australian architecture. For many years the firm, H. Vivian Taylor & Soilleux operated out of an office on Little Collins Street in Melbourne.  In 1933, prominent modernist architect, Best Overend, joined the firm as a partner, and for several years, the practice operated as Taylor, Soilleux & Overend. This partnership continued until 1937, when Overend departed, and the firm it returned to the previous name.

Right from its formation, Taylor, Soilleux was instrumental in designing cinema and theatres right across Australia.  Taylor’s groundbreaking work in architectural acoustics coincided with the decline of silent era films in the 1920s and the rise of sound being added to films for the first time in the late 1920s and early 1930s. This significant change to films spurred a need for acoustic solutions in existing cinemas and theatres that had not been designed with any consideration for the way sound would bounce around the space.  Over the course of their careers, Taylor Suileux (& Overend) designed several theatres and cinemas in Melbourne.  They also collaborated with other architects and theatre owners on hundreds of other cinemas and theatres right across Australia.  In recent decades, the legacy that this firm leaves behind has been severely compromised. With the decline of independent cinemas and the rise of movie rentals and then the internet, many of the theatres and cinemas across Melbourne that were designed by Taylor Suileux (& Overend) were pulled down to make way for other types of buildings.  The legacy that this Melbourne architectural firm leaves, lives on in a limited number of buildings such as the heritage listed Rivoli Theatre in Hawthorn East.