Pathe Wepler - Cote Place

This is a story of four separate cinemas which are now combined into one!

On the site of 140-142 Boulevard de Clichy in 1810 was a coaching inn known as the Café Wepler. In 1955, it was purchased by Pathe and was demolished. The 1,700-seat Pathe Wepler Cinema was opened after 10 months building work. It was built as a modern rival to the great 6,420-seat Gaumont Palace, just a few yards away. The cinema boasted the largest safety-glass façade in the world, measuring 13 metres x 12, and weighed 12 tons. Seating was provided on three levels, in orchestra, mezzanine and grand circle.

In September 1969, the Pathe Wepler was twinned, with 1,100 seats in the upper part, using the mezzanine and grand circle levels. A 480 seat luxury cinema named Caravelle (after the aircraft) was created in the lower part of the building. In the Caravelle auditorium, patrons could smoke and drink while watching the film, making for a party atmosphere in the space, which was decorated like a garden.

The former Images Cinema at 132 Boulevard de Clichy was opened by the Paris-Soir chain of newsreel theatres as the Paris-Soir Clichy on 9th November 1938. The 750-seat cinema was designed in a Streamline Moderne style by architect Charles Siclis. It later became the Images Cinema and was taken over by the Pathe Wepler in May 1989, adding a further four screens which seat 355, 170, 100 and 85. Today, the entrance foyer of the former Images Cinema is now in use as a video arcade (It has its own page on Cinema Treasures as Pathe Welper - Images).

In the Wepler building, screen 1 has a total of 1,071 seats, of which 400 are in the grand circle level. It has a 11 metre wide screen and is equipped with 70mm projection equipment and Dolby sound. Screen 2 on the ground level now seats 445 and has a 10 metre wide screen and is also equipped with 70mm projection equipment and has Dolby sound. It retains its ‘garden’ atmosphere.

In 1994, the Pathe Wepler was expanded to the plans of architect P. Muyle, by the addition of another six screens that had originally been the Pathe Clichy, located in the rear at 8 Avenue de Clichy. This originally opened as the 1,100-seat Metropolis which opened in 1919 at 8 Avenue de Clichy in the 17th Area of Paris. It was renamed Select in 1920 and in 1930 it was renamed Pathe-Select, and retained its single 1,100 seat auditorium until 1971 when it was tripled, with two screens each seating 200 in the former orchestra and a larger 496-seat screen in the former balcony. By 1975 it had been converted into a 6-screen cinema and was still part of the Pather Wepler complex. By 2018 it was operating separate from the Pathe Weple with 5 screens operating. (it has its own page on Cinema Treasures as the Pathe Wepler - cote Avenue).

At 7 Avenue de Clichy in the 17th Area of Paris was the Mirages Cinema, a former cabaret where Maurice Chevalier had performed, which became a cinema in 1932. It was purchased by Pathe in 1973 who created two more auditoriums in the building, as well as retaining the former cabaret space. It was gutted internally in 1991, and three new ‘space-age’ auditoriums were created and is now the Cinema des Cineastes (It has its own page on Cinema Treasures).

Today, the former Pathe Clichy building seats 490 in the upper screen and 200 and 210 in the lower screens. The former Mirages Cinema building has screens seating 430, 135 and 100. The former Select/Pathe Clichy in 2018 operates as a separate 5-screen cinema (and has its own page on Cinema Treasures), but by 2021 has been incorporated back into the complex.

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