Hall Best who was born in 1905 became one of the first independent decorators operating in Sydney. By the time she closed her business in 1974 she had established a reputation as "high priestess of the avant-garde". The Best style was "characterised by an adventurous and sophisticated use of colour in glazed walls and ceilings, international modernist and Australian furniture, Japanese temple blinds and lights and marimekko cottons and Jim Thompson Thai Silks. Best's other significant public commissions included The Lobby Restaurant, Canberra and a consultancy on the seating fabrics and outdoor furniture for the Sydney Opera House. Theatre patrons had to wait until Boxing Day 1957 for the theatre's opening - twenty-three years since the land was purchased for this purpose. Highlights of the theatre's operation were the first cinemascope screening in 1961, the installation of a Westrex Stereophonic Sound system in August 1963 for the presentation of the movie "South Pacific", a new giant curved screen (32 feet by 19 feet) for the Todd-AO production "My Fair Lady" in October, 1967 (the screen was renewed in June, 1976), in the biobox two Phillips Cinemeccanica 70mm projectors and in more recent years Dolby system speakers at the rear of the lower circle and on side walls. The Theatre is a remarkable monument to an enterprising family of the Illawarra district and remained in the family's control until the death of Herbert Jones' daughter, Rowena Milgrove. Her death in January 2004 came 20 days before she was due to close the cinema permanently for financial reasons. The building had been faced with the threat of demolition in 2002, when Lendlease raised the possibility of demolishing the building as part of a redevelopment of Wollongong Central. The plans did not proceed. The Gateway City Church bought the 1200-seat theatre for $3.5 million in 2005, then spent $1 million on improvements, also turning the space into an occasional live music venue. The building was placed on the market in October 2009, in a surprise sale bid that came to nothing. In 2016, the owners of the building painted the beloved landmark olive green, after heritage investigations confirmed this was the facade's original colour. In August 2017, the Gateway City Church advertised the building for sale, announcing that they had outgrown the building. Media reports in June 2018 indicated that the building had found a buyer and was under contract, and that while