City Theater
Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 15-19,
Amsterdam
10017 RP
Kleine Gartmanplantsoen 15-19,
Amsterdam
10017 RP
1 person
favorited this theater
Showing all 10 comments
Here are two vintage views of the City’s exterior:
View link
View link
The Art Deco reference for the City was revised to Dutch Functionalism.
Thanks to Roloff for these 2006 to 2007 photos
Auditorium 1:
View link
View link
View link
View link
2005 photos Auditorium 1
View link
View link
View link
Screen 3, added in basement in late 1970’s, closed September 2005
View link
Screen 4, with many columns, closed for some time before the complex closed for renovation
View link
View link
View link
Auditorium 5
View link
Auditorium 7 with his caption
The City was the first cinema in Amsterdam to split it’s original auditorium to become a multiplex. The balcony of the main big auditorium got split into 3 small ones in the late seventies, this one was the last one to be added on March 31st 1977, with 274 seats originally. Rumour has it, the screen can be rolled up so one can view the big screen of the main auditorium again.
View link
View link
The Tuschinski has elements of Art Nouveau and Expressionist, among other designs, but is Art Deco. It is featured in what is just about a centerpiece of the V & A Art Deco book, and is absolutely wonderful.
Architect Jan Wils would probably flip over in his grave if he saw his creation being classified as “Art Deco,” which is the antithesis of the City’s streamlined modernism. The City Theatre is regarded as a classic example of Dutch “Functionalism,” which was heavily influenced by America’s Frank Lloyd Wright, the Bauhaus in Germany, and Le Corbusier in France. The City’s rival, the Tuschinski Theatre, is considered “Art Deco,” though some critics regard it as pure Kitsch. For more about this, please consult “Amsterdam Architecture: A Guide,” published in English in 1987 by Uitgeverij Thoth.
This 1935 view shows the opening attraction, “Episode,” on the billboard above the entrance: www.i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Warrengwhiz/cityamst.jpg
The opening sentence of the introduction needs correcting. “Episode” was produced in Austria, not Australia! Paula Wessely was an Austrian actress who became one of the biggest stars of Nazi Germany’s film industry, most notoriously in the blatant 1941 propaganda drama, “Heimkehr” (“Homecoming”).
According to the Pathe website, the City closed on Feb 1, 2007 and will reopen in mid 2008.
The City will be closed any moment now, for a full restoration that will take up to two years. It will become an art house, with probably less screens, maybe around 4. Hopefully they will change the facade back to what it was like in it’s earlier days.
Here’s a postcard from around 1946 where you can see the original facade:
View link
Another shot in the dark:
View link
A photograph of the upper section of the facade here:
View link