Rialto Cinema
3-4 Coventry Street,
London,
W1D 6BL
3-4 Coventry Street,
London,
W1D 6BL
1 person
favorited this theater
One of the West End’s oldest surviving cinemas, and still almost unaltered, the Rialto Cinema is an amazing building.
Externally the tall narrow facade resembles many American theaters but inside is a riot of Edwardian plasterwork designed by Horace Gilbert. The main architect was Hippolyte Blanc. It opened 18 March 1913 with seating in stalls and single balcony.
Used only as a cinema through until 1982, despite some enforced closures due to bomb damage in the War. The cinema then lay dark after the lease expired.
Eventually it was restored and used as the Fashion Cafe which folded very quickly. It become a Chicago Rock Cafe in 2002 which didn’t last too long either. It has now been converted into a casino named the Hard Rock Casino, retaining all the decorative interior from its original cinema days.
It is one of London’s most unknown, yet most important cinema buildings and is a Grade II Listed building.
Contributed by
Ian Grundy
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Recent comments (view all 19 comments)
A photo of the not-long-closed Rialto in 1987 here:–
View link
The Rialto will shortly be rebranded from a Hard Rock Casino into a ‘G Casino’, following Rank’s sale of its Hard Rock Cafe division.
If you go to:
http://www.hardrock.com/casinos/tour360/london.asp
You can view several interior tours of the casino. Much of the original ornate ceiling and plasterwork appears to be intact, as does the circle.
This theatre may have had ties to 20th Century Fox Film Corp., but it was never owned or operated by the FOX/NATIONAL GENERAL CORP. chain of theatres. These are seperate co’s. Fox/ National General no longer exsist. 20th Century Fox is alive and well. But there is no connection between the two. Fox Theatres/National General Theatres never owned or operated movie theatres overseas.
The Rialto Cinema can be seen on the left of this night-time view of Coventry Street in November 1955:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/allhails/2808666144/
The derelict interior of the Rialto Cinema, photographed in 1998:
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a cinema ad for the Rialto from dec 1979 when it screening The Bitch, and was a Brent Walker Theatre
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/4701030909/
A vintage photograph from April 1955, showing the Rialto Cinema. The Peter Robinson store was later demolished and the Swiss Centre built on the site. In 2009, this too was demolished and a hotel has been built on that site:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/allhails/5154525536/
The seating was removed. and ended up in a short lived cinema in Birmingham called “The Original Cinema” Saltley..
Have found a picture of the auditorium….
I The 20’s and early thirties The Cinemas was Operated by ABC Cinenas. The Manager that I trained with at The ABC Savoy Walsall. Was assitant Manager at the Commodore Hammersmith and did management relief at Rialto