Rialto Theatre

In 1923 James Bowe of Drummoyne, grocer purchased lot 6 and Patrick John Augustine 'Gus' Bowe, picture show proprietor purchased lots7 & 8 of Deposited Plan 9692 from the Church of England Property Trust (Diocese of Sydney).  While other blocks in Pope Street had houses on them these were empty.  Gus Bowe developed cinemas in West Ryde, Gladesville and Top Ryde.  In December 1931 he opened the 'Rialto' on these blocks of land (intersection of Pope and Devlin Streets).  Designed by McCredie and Evans it has been described as one of the cinemas in Sydney that was a 'dream palace'.  The exterior brickwork incorporated reds, greens, whites and orange and the concrete roofing tiles were blue and green.  Large columns topped with gargoyles flanked the floodlit entrance and a second row of gates were toped with seahorses.  

Gus Bowe’s partner was his brother James who ran the Rialto Theatre after Gus died.  For three decades the 'Rialto' was an important part of the lives of the people of the area and a landmark building.  The demise of the 'Rialto' was the result of two factors in the 1950s: the advent of television in 1956 and the building of the Top Ryde Shopping Centre in 1957.

When the centre was first built the 'Rialto' continued to operate.  However, within a few years, the centre described as the 'world's newest and most modern drive in shopping centre' because of it's popularity needed more space for car parking.  The threatre had closed in 1960 due to factors such as reduced audiences and was subsequently demolished to become one of the car parks of the centre.