Fuller's Opera House in Wellesley street was gutted by fire last night. The city brigade received the call at 11.21pm and by that time the interior of the building was a raging furnace, but the firemen put up a desperate fight and prevented the place from being completely destroyed.
The outbreak was discovered some time after the evening theatre performance had concluded and at the time the three persons in the building were the stage manager Mr W.A. Singe, Mrs Singe and Mr Diamond a scenic artist. The cause of the fire was apparently the blowing out a fuse on the No. 2 switch board. The flames immediately spread to the "flies" and in a few moments a mass of inflammable material and the stage curtain was ablaze. The three occupants of the theatre had to make a hasty exit, Mr Diamond receiving some burns on the arm.

Inferno of Flames
The City Fire Brigade reached the Opera House promptly and by then the building was an inferno, tongues of flame having burst through the windows and dome to brilliantly illuminate the surroundings. The firemen had to force entrances at various parts of the building and then the fire was attacked from every possible vantage point, the work inside being of an exceptionally dangerous nature owing to thick clouds of smoke and debris raining down from the roof.
It was about midnight before the brigade had the upper hand and up to then there had been grave danger of the fire spreading to the adjoining places. The fire had the biggest hold at the stage end of  the building adjoining Elliot Street and for some time the firemen had to concentrate most of their efforts at that point.
The spectacular nature of the fire attracted thousands of spectators to the vicinity and often daring work by the firemen was cheered. At midnight the crowd started to thin out but through the rest of the night a detachment of the brigade was kept hard at work to deal with the smouldering debris.
A small dog owned by Mr. Clem Dawe of the "Midnight frolics" Company was shut up in one of the rooms in the building but it was liberated in time and quickly made its escape.

Scene of  Desolation.
This morning the interior of the Opera House presented a scene of desolation and the sunlight streamed through on to piles of charred debris and beams. Beneath the stage in the basement there was water ankle deep which flowed about the "props" of the Midnight Follies Company while members of the company waded to and fro in an endeavour to assess the amount of damage. As much of the property was packed in crates the full extent of the damage could not be ascertained but the dyes were running freely and it was evident that anything in the nature of wearing apparel had suffered severely. The management of the company promptly arranged with one of the city laundries to assist in drying out progress and was hopeful of being able to carry on with the least possible delay.                         -Auckland Star, Saturday December 4 1926.

LCRD CINEMA NOTES: The Opera House was first used as a cinema on 13 October 1896. The theatre was not rebuilt after the fire.