One admires the cinema and tends to forget how dreadful it must have been for the occupants in the houses left standing to the left of the building when it was erected and their sunlight was blocked. It wouldn’t have been much better for those in the houses on the right; plus there must have been noisy people exiting through the side crush doors at the end of the evening’s show.
In the lower left is Staniforth Road’s junction with Attercliffe Road. Those (of a certain age) familiar with retail architecture will appreciate why locals called it Burton’s Corner.
The name of the stretch of road down the side of the cinema has changed at some time: from Balfour Road to Shirland Lane. The lane originally joined the road in a T-junction at the rear of the cinema. Balfour Road is now blocked at that point and Shirland has a sharp bend and runs down to Staniforth Road. The change must have been in recent decades.
Down the side of the cinema, Shirland Lane (formerly Balfour Road), there is an impressive mini-façade, at the end of the auditorium side wall, with a blanked-off rounded arch entrance. Presumably this was a separate entrance for patrons of cheaper seats nearer the screen.
Peering closely, the exit alley-way appears to have a roof, supported lean-to fashion by the auditorium wall*. I wonder if patrons for the cheap, front, seats paid and entered at the screen end of the building.
(* It could just be things propped up against the wall)
The building was definitely not demolished in 1948, as commonly reported. There are aerial photos taken in September 1951 which show the complete building standing. There are two large loading-bay-type doors in the auditorium wall along Rutland Street and the pavement looks to have been modified/ramped to permit vehicular access. The roof over the centre/front of the auditorium looks original; that over the rear/balcony looks a cheap replacement. If that was because of bomb-damage, the lighthouse/tower feature on the roof at the front/corner escaped any damage. Due to the cost and materials involved, it wouldn’t have been restored when the building was repaired.
Even allowing for the confusion of war and the possible inertia in KYB updating its listings, for the Rutland to be listed in KYB 1947, two years after the end of the war, seems to contradict the widespread belief that it ceased operating in the early 1940’s.
The open space diagonally across the road from the Pavilion is now (2014) thick with trees. The building opposite the cinema has gone, as has the next building which abuts the bank “B”.
johnr … you’re not alone in being irritated by Cinema Treasure’s preference for indexing cinemas by their final trading name. I’m of the opinion that the original name should be used, whilst also recording any other names in chronological order.
It’s almost three years to the day since your message was posted. They’re not going to re-index it as the Rivoli!
The Kinematograph Year Book charts the blighted history of the Rivoli. KYB 1937 simply has Ben Kanter as proprietor and 1520 seats as the capacity. KYB 1942 has “(closed)”. Understandably, KYBs 1945, 1947, 1950 and 1954 make no mention of it. 46 years of existence; and closed for 30% of the time!
Strictly speaking, the fly tower roof, having two pitches to it, was a mansard roof.
I’m intrigued by the box construction on the roof above the “Union Cinemas Majestic” sign in this 1937 shot. It isn’t there in the equivalent 1929 view.
A public services building with library, housing administration offices, etc is now on the site.
The Rialto opened 10 May 1937 and was similar in design to the E J Hinge Circuit’s Ritz Cinema in Forest Hall. The architects were Percy L Browne, Son and Harding. The façade was brick and coloured cement with a tower and metal canopies. The entrance vestibule contained the pay-box beyond which was a foyer. The auditorium was decorated in red, beige and gold and had 1026 seats (according to a non-KYB source). The proscenium arch was enhanced with decorative plasterwork. The Rialto closed on 25 June 1961 and became a bingo hall. It was demolished in July 1964 and the site is now occupied by a health centre.
There is silent film footage of the opening day, Wednesday 13 February 1929, at the Huntley Archive on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSjITqG0rd
Given the (new) information in the Overview, I am inclined to the view that this is a 1970s view of the Queen’s whilst showing Asian films. The hint is in the style of the poster on the right and in the cars at the traffic lights on Trinity Street.
Presumably the roller shuttered door at the very far right is what served as the entrance to the cheap, front stalls, seats.
Leslie Halliwell in ‘Seats In All Parts’, page 314 describing his return to Bolton “in the 1980s” has this: “The Rialto had at some fairly recent date become the Apollo, but was now firmly shuttered”.
“ . . the Lido in Bradshawgate, as unprepossessing and unVenetian building as could be imagined despite its gondola-filled proscenium frieze… it was little more than a cheap shell. The foyer was bare and cramped, and the centre stalls were by crash doors which opened from the auditorium straight out into the side alleys, sometimes drenching the adjacent customers in rain or snow… . the Lido was . . the proud possessor of a Christie organ, and the interlude for this could stretch the gap between solid celluloid items to as much as thirty-five minutes. Though it had the advantage of a phantom piano attachment, the Lido organ did not rise from the orchestra pit, nor did it change colour as it came. From some of the side seats you could see it waiting in the wings throughout the performance, and since the main curtain hung slightly short, front stalls patrons could count the feet of the men who pushed it on stage at the appropriate moment.”
“The … road leading north to Blackburn, once boasted three cinemas. Furthest out, on the corner of Belmont Road . . was the Belle. Snuggled away behind a pub, it was a stone building, quite tiny, and low inside; apparently clean enough but never without a dank smell. The front stalls uniquely consisted of backless wooden forms, riveted to the floor; not very comfortable, but for a penny one could hardly complain.”
Seats In All Parts: by Leslie Halliwell – a description of visits shortly before WW2.
In the photo, right to left: Temple school; Temple cinema; and Temple public house. The spire is on St Luke’s church which was largely demolished in the 1970s, leaving the spire-less tower as a decorative ruin within the graveyard. This landmark may help fix the site of the Temple cinema in the featureless collection of modern housing along that (i.e. east) side of Cheetham Hill Road north of the Queen’s Road junction.
The tagged-on rectangular extension in the centre of the sunlit end of the building is absent from the street-level photograph, which presumably was taken before 1927.
That would imply there were alterations to the building before those in 1933. Was the extension built at the time of the organ being installed? My reading of the building is that the stage/screen is at the other end; so the extension has nothing to do with stage/screen (or organ?).
“Leeds Cinemas Remembered” by Robert E. Preedy lists this cinema as opening under the name of ‘Pictureland’.
As KYB 1914 lists it as ‘Armley Picture Hall’, could it be that ‘Pictureland’ was the operating name whilst owned by American Bioscope Co Ltd from April to July 1910?
The large white building across Manningham Lane from the Theatre Royal is Busby’s department store. In the foyer of the (1950s) Theatre Royal was a sign announcing that records played in this theatre may be obtained from the record department of Busby’s!
The old small midget next to the new huge Regal was the Popular Cinema (previously White Cinema; and Electric Theatre prior to that). It’s all reminiscent of “The Smallest Show On Earth”!
According to the Kinematograph Year Book 1931, the Capitol was using sound-on-disk; and the proprietor and manager was Chris Evans.
In KYB 1942 the sound is RCA and Jack Evans has joined Chris; the capacity is 650; the proscenium is 22ft wide, the stage 14ft deep with 6 dressing rooms. KYB 1947 information is the same.
In KYB 1954 the proprietors are The Capitol Cinema (Cross Hands) Ltd; and the seating has fallen drastically to 400. The screen is 20ft by 14ft. Bizarrely, the proscenium has shrunk by 2ft to 20ft and the stage is still 14ft deep (14ft again?). I think some of the numerical data is garbled in KYB 1954!
In the London Gazette of 16 September 1966 (pp 10086/7), The Capitol Cinema (Cross Hands) Ltd was in a list of companies to be deleted from the Register at Companies House, as no longer trading.
One admires the cinema and tends to forget how dreadful it must have been for the occupants in the houses left standing to the left of the building when it was erected and their sunlight was blocked. It wouldn’t have been much better for those in the houses on the right; plus there must have been noisy people exiting through the side crush doors at the end of the evening’s show.
In the lower left is Staniforth Road’s junction with Attercliffe Road. Those (of a certain age) familiar with retail architecture will appreciate why locals called it Burton’s Corner.
The name of the stretch of road down the side of the cinema has changed at some time: from Balfour Road to Shirland Lane. The lane originally joined the road in a T-junction at the rear of the cinema. Balfour Road is now blocked at that point and Shirland has a sharp bend and runs down to Staniforth Road. The change must have been in recent decades.
Down the side of the cinema, Shirland Lane (formerly Balfour Road), there is an impressive mini-façade, at the end of the auditorium side wall, with a blanked-off rounded arch entrance. Presumably this was a separate entrance for patrons of cheaper seats nearer the screen.
Peering closely, the exit alley-way appears to have a roof, supported lean-to fashion by the auditorium wall*. I wonder if patrons for the cheap, front, seats paid and entered at the screen end of the building.
(* It could just be things propped up against the wall)
The building was definitely not demolished in 1948, as commonly reported. There are aerial photos taken in September 1951 which show the complete building standing. There are two large loading-bay-type doors in the auditorium wall along Rutland Street and the pavement looks to have been modified/ramped to permit vehicular access. The roof over the centre/front of the auditorium looks original; that over the rear/balcony looks a cheap replacement. If that was because of bomb-damage, the lighthouse/tower feature on the roof at the front/corner escaped any damage. Due to the cost and materials involved, it wouldn’t have been restored when the building was repaired.
Even allowing for the confusion of war and the possible inertia in KYB updating its listings, for the Rutland to be listed in KYB 1947, two years after the end of the war, seems to contradict the widespread belief that it ceased operating in the early 1940’s.
The open space diagonally across the road from the Pavilion is now (2014) thick with trees. The building opposite the cinema has gone, as has the next building which abuts the bank “B”.
johnr … you’re not alone in being irritated by Cinema Treasure’s preference for indexing cinemas by their final trading name. I’m of the opinion that the original name should be used, whilst also recording any other names in chronological order.
It’s almost three years to the day since your message was posted. They’re not going to re-index it as the Rivoli!
The Kinematograph Year Book charts the blighted history of the Rivoli. KYB 1937 simply has Ben Kanter as proprietor and 1520 seats as the capacity. KYB 1942 has “(closed)”. Understandably, KYBs 1945, 1947, 1950 and 1954 make no mention of it. 46 years of existence; and closed for 30% of the time!
Strictly speaking, the fly tower roof, having two pitches to it, was a mansard roof.
I’m intrigued by the box construction on the roof above the “Union Cinemas Majestic” sign in this 1937 shot. It isn’t there in the equivalent 1929 view.
A public services building with library, housing administration offices, etc is now on the site.
The Rialto opened 10 May 1937 and was similar in design to the E J Hinge Circuit’s Ritz Cinema in Forest Hall. The architects were Percy L Browne, Son and Harding. The façade was brick and coloured cement with a tower and metal canopies. The entrance vestibule contained the pay-box beyond which was a foyer. The auditorium was decorated in red, beige and gold and had 1026 seats (according to a non-KYB source). The proscenium arch was enhanced with decorative plasterwork. The Rialto closed on 25 June 1961 and became a bingo hall. It was demolished in July 1964 and the site is now occupied by a health centre.
There is silent film footage of the opening day, Wednesday 13 February 1929, at the Huntley Archive on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSjITqG0rd
(I wish I knew how to do links on here.)
Given the (new) information in the Overview, I am inclined to the view that this is a 1970s view of the Queen’s whilst showing Asian films. The hint is in the style of the poster on the right and in the cars at the traffic lights on Trinity Street.
Presumably the roller shuttered door at the very far right is what served as the entrance to the cheap, front stalls, seats.
Leslie Halliwell in ‘Seats In All Parts’, page 314 describing his return to Bolton “in the 1980s” has this: “The Rialto had at some fairly recent date become the Apollo, but was now firmly shuttered”.
“ . . the Lido in Bradshawgate, as unprepossessing and unVenetian building as could be imagined despite its gondola-filled proscenium frieze… it was little more than a cheap shell. The foyer was bare and cramped, and the centre stalls were by crash doors which opened from the auditorium straight out into the side alleys, sometimes drenching the adjacent customers in rain or snow… . the Lido was . . the proud possessor of a Christie organ, and the interlude for this could stretch the gap between solid celluloid items to as much as thirty-five minutes. Though it had the advantage of a phantom piano attachment, the Lido organ did not rise from the orchestra pit, nor did it change colour as it came. From some of the side seats you could see it waiting in the wings throughout the performance, and since the main curtain hung slightly short, front stalls patrons could count the feet of the men who pushed it on stage at the appropriate moment.”
Seats In All Parts: by Leslie Halliwell
“The … road leading north to Blackburn, once boasted three cinemas. Furthest out, on the corner of Belmont Road . . was the Belle. Snuggled away behind a pub, it was a stone building, quite tiny, and low inside; apparently clean enough but never without a dank smell. The front stalls uniquely consisted of backless wooden forms, riveted to the floor; not very comfortable, but for a penny one could hardly complain.”
Seats In All Parts: by Leslie Halliwell – a description of visits shortly before WW2.
It also looks as though the projection suite was set high, with access to the roof over the entrance block.
The Kinematograph Year Books for 1947, 1950 and 1954 list the capacity as 712.
No it isn’t. The only three-projector Cinerama installation is the the National Media Museum in Bradford.
In the photo, right to left: Temple school; Temple cinema; and Temple public house. The spire is on St Luke’s church which was largely demolished in the 1970s, leaving the spire-less tower as a decorative ruin within the graveyard. This landmark may help fix the site of the Temple cinema in the featureless collection of modern housing along that (i.e. east) side of Cheetham Hill Road north of the Queen’s Road junction.
The tagged-on rectangular extension in the centre of the sunlit end of the building is absent from the street-level photograph, which presumably was taken before 1927.
That would imply there were alterations to the building before those in 1933. Was the extension built at the time of the organ being installed? My reading of the building is that the stage/screen is at the other end; so the extension has nothing to do with stage/screen (or organ?).
Oddly, the Kinematograph Year Book for 1914 has no mention of this cinema (nor any in Burnham on Sea).
KYB 1932 lists it but with no specifics about the building. KYB 1942 and KYB 1947 list 650 seats and 400 seats, respectively.
W Trueman Dicken had the monopoly in the town, being the owners of the Ritz, too.
“Leeds Cinemas Remembered” by Robert E. Preedy lists this cinema as opening under the name of ‘Pictureland’.
As KYB 1914 lists it as ‘Armley Picture Hall’, could it be that ‘Pictureland’ was the operating name whilst owned by American Bioscope Co Ltd from April to July 1910?
The large white building across Manningham Lane from the Theatre Royal is Busby’s department store. In the foyer of the (1950s) Theatre Royal was a sign announcing that records played in this theatre may be obtained from the record department of Busby’s!
The old small midget next to the new huge Regal was the Popular Cinema (previously White Cinema; and Electric Theatre prior to that). It’s all reminiscent of “The Smallest Show On Earth”!
According to the Kinematograph Year Book 1931, the Capitol was using sound-on-disk; and the proprietor and manager was Chris Evans.
In KYB 1942 the sound is RCA and Jack Evans has joined Chris; the capacity is 650; the proscenium is 22ft wide, the stage 14ft deep with 6 dressing rooms. KYB 1947 information is the same.
In KYB 1954 the proprietors are The Capitol Cinema (Cross Hands) Ltd; and the seating has fallen drastically to 400. The screen is 20ft by 14ft. Bizarrely, the proscenium has shrunk by 2ft to 20ft and the stage is still 14ft deep (14ft again?). I think some of the numerical data is garbled in KYB 1954!
In the London Gazette of 16 September 1966 (pp 10086/7), The Capitol Cinema (Cross Hands) Ltd was in a list of companies to be deleted from the Register at Companies House, as no longer trading.