Picture Palace
26 Railway Road,
Coleraine,
BT52
26 Railway Road,
Coleraine,
BT52
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Additional Info
Architects: J.S. Kennedy
Previous Names: Picture House, Palace Cinema
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Located in Coleraine, County Londonderry. The Picture House was opened in 1914. It was renamed Picture Palace by 1927, but had reverted back to the Picture House name by 1933. remodeled in 1937. By 1947 it had been re-named Picture Palace under new ownership of Coleraine Picture Palace Co. Ltd, with films booked by Irish Theatres Ltd.
By 1963 it had been re-named Palace Cinema. CinemaScope had been fitted, and the proscenium was 23 feet wide. The screen measured 20 feet x 10 feet. The Palace Cinema was still listed as operating in 1965 and was finally renamed Picture Palace again in August 1974 to be closed on 20th September 1975. Shops were built on the site.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
The Picture Palace opened in 1914 and was designed by J. S. Kennedy. Reconstructed in 1937, maybe as a result of the Palladium being rebuilt. Associated for some time with the Christie family.
The 1927 Kine Year Book listed it as the Picture Palace. In the 1933 edition the Picture House name had been reinstated. Even in its final years, tinkering with the name was still happening. In the Coleraine Chronicle, 20th September 1974, the Palace had once more become the Picture Palace.
Browsing the pages of the Coleraine Chronicle, we find an advertisement in the issue dated 23rd August 1975 which carried the programme to 30th August. It also announced that the Picture Palace would close for 2 weeks (reason not given). The last advertisement seen was on 13th September 1975, for the programme to 20th September. The paper was examined as far as 20th December 1975 but nothing further was seen about the Palace or the Picture Palace, perhaps an indication that it had finally closed.
Still browsing the pages of the Kine Year Book, the name of the proprietor, Coleraine Picture Palace Company Limited, kept recurring. Mention has been made in Comments of the involvement of the Christie family, which helps to explain why the patrons nicknamed it “Christie’s.”
According to NI Archive.org/Reflections on the Causeway Coast & Glens, Coleraine’s first cinema was the Orange Hall in Union Street. Did it justify the name cinema? That question remains unresolved; no date or other details have been seen. If it was the first cinema, it must have predated the Picture House.