Apollo Cinemas West End
19 Lower Regent Street,
London,
SW1Y 4LR
19 Lower Regent Street,
London,
SW1Y 4LR
6 people
favorited this theater
Located on an excellent site in Lower Regent Street, just south of Piccadilly Circus, the Plaza Theatre was built for and operated by Paramount Pictures Inc. It was designed by Frank T. Verity with plasterwork by Marc Henri, and opened on 1st March 1926, with Dorothy Gish in “Nell Gwyn”. It was sumptuously decorated with total seating for 1,896 divided between stalls, Royal circle (mezzanine) and balcony. There was a small stage and live acts were a feature of the programme – including the famous Plaza Tiller Girls. It was equipped with a Wurlitzer 3Manual/15Ranks theatre organ (with piano attachment), and had a cafe.
The World Premiere of the David Lean film “Bridge On the River Kwai” starring Alec Guinness was held at the Plaza Theatre on 2nd October 1957. The Plaza Theatre lasted without alteration until 1967, when the lovely auditorium was gutted to form two cinemas, designed again by architect Frank T. Verity together with his (by then partner) Samuel Beverly. The Wurlitzer organ was removed and the 820-seat upper cinema was used as an extended balcony and the original projection box. The stalls, which extended into the stage area, became the 972-seat Paramount with the upper cinema still called the Plaza.
The Paramount used a new projection box constructed in the former Royal Circle area. The Plaza was renamed Universal in 1972, but old names linger and in 1975 they were both renamed Plaza 1 & 2.
Two years later, Plaza 1 (the old stalls) closed and was triplexed. The upstairs cinema now became Plaza 1 whilst the front stalls became Plaza 2 (378 seats), and the rear Plaza 3 & 4 (163 & 181 seats). All original decoration was lost.
Late in 2001, the complex closed and was gutted (yet again!). It reopened in September 2004 with retail space (Tesco supermarket) on the ground floor and five new cinemas located in the basement. The screens seat: (1)88, (2)59, (3)40, (4)168 and (5)126 Total seating in the five screens is for 481 plus 8 wheelchair spaces (2 in screens 1,2,4,5, none in screen 3). The upper floors of the building have been rebuilt internally for office space.
The exterior of the building is Listed Grade II as part of the Regent Street conservation area.
Contributed by
Ian Grundy
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Recent comments (view all 23 comments)
It is amazing that the interior of this stunning cinema was not listed although the frontage was. The replacement auditoria were good of their kind though – spacious and comfortable. I went to see all the big Paramount releases here in the 70’s and 80’s. Once it was divided further though it lost all it’s identity and became very bland. How sad to see that the spacious foyer has become another ghastly supermarket. Shopping malls and supermarkets seem to have become the new entertainment centres. Consumerism gone mad!
Here is a July 2006 photo of the Apollo Theater. Nice exterior; didn’t get a chance to few the interior.
A recent close-up view of the entrance of the Apollo West End:
http://www.moviebunker.com/apollo_west_end.htm
nightime shot of the exterior of the plaza building, with the discrete apollo entrance on the lower left side
View link
A pre demolition shot of the Plaza in 1988 here:–
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“Zulu” in 70mm at the Plaza?.
Recently I was viewing a the recent Widescreen DVD of the film “Zulu” and the interesting exta item was the “Making of Zulu”.
There was some details that it was first openned at the Plaza in 1964, but no details if it was in Technirama70 (70mm) or just a 35mm Mag sound version.
The first 70mm film at the Plaza was “Becket” in March 1964 and I wondered if “Zulu” was ever screened in 70mm at the Plaza in this year?.
photo taken just before the demolition crew moved in, this panel of original plasterwork was removed and stored and was to have been displayed in the new Apollo lobby.
http://flickr.com/photos/woody1969/63380109/
all the plasterwork was removed and disposed of safely as it contained asbestos, you wont be seeing it back i’m afraid.
a photo of screen 2 with its pop-art wall panels as it was being stripped out, the seat backs have all gone, just the seat cushions left
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3535004297/
and the box office as it was being dismantled, still with a few bulbs left working
http://www.flickr.com/photos/woody1969/3535824888/
Ive worked at the Apollo a few times installing plasma screens.It was odd knowing that i was working where the stalls once were.Ive attached a couple of pictures of the Plaza WurliTzer-one in the pit at the Plaza and the other at its first home in Ascot after being removed.The organ had an odd start to life.,the chambers were split either side of the proscenium.The solo organ and the 32
Diaphone disturbed nearby offices.The Solo organ was then moved up into the roof speaking out from above the proscenium which made it sound rather odd.The Diaphones were disconnected and it is believed left in the theatre in the roof space when the organ was removed.My guess is that they were broken up when the building was converted.Im presuming that the roof was taken off?