Brown's Mart Theatre

brown's mart dates back to 1885 when it had the distinction of being one of the few privately owned commercial buildings constructed of local stone, rather than corrugated iron. it was built by vaiben louis solomon (1853-1908) in 1885 and was originally known as 'solomon's mart?.the next owner's name became associated with the building for more than a hundred years: victor vowles brown (1841-1910) took over the building in september 1887 and established the port darwin mercantile and agency co. brown's mart, as it was later known, housed the offices of the eastern and australian steam ship company, north australian lloyds and the northern territory mining exchange.in november 1972, architect peter dermoudy, subsequently a chair of the trust, was commissioned to design a new theatre layout and administration block. stage one of the administration building had just been completed with the much-appreciated air-conditioning, when cyclone tracy hit in 1974.