Curzon Cinema
New Street and High Street,
Huddersfield,
HD1
New Street and High Street,
Huddersfield,
HD1
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Hutchinson Cinemas
Firms: Schofield & Sons
Previous Names: Picturedrome
Nearby Theaters
The Picturedrome on Buxton Road (now the pedestrianised New Street, 2015) was a venture of Hibbert’s Pictures. It was a hall built behind an existing street frontage of shops, etc. The architects were Schofield & Sons.; and the opening was on 2nd December 1910. It is not listed in Kinematograph Year Book 1914; though Hibbert’s 600-seat Thornton Lodge at Longroyd Bridge is listed.
Kinematograph Year Book 1927 lists it, with Hibbert’s head office address at 2 Darley Street in Bradford. According to ‘West Yorkshire Cinemas & Theatres’ by Peter Tuffrey, sound came in April 1929, but KYB 1929 has no mention of it. KYB 1931 indicates a BTP (British Talking Pictures) installation. KYB 1935 lists 900 seats and a 24ft proscenium. This falls to 800 seats in KYB 1949. The building was fire-damaged in September 1949; the restoration may account for the reduced capacity.
According to Peter Tuffrey closure was on 27th August 1950 and the operators in the later years were Walker & Newton Cinemas Ltd. What appears to be the case is that Hibbert’s Pictures sold it to Walker & Newton in August 1950. According to an article in the Huddersfield Examiner by a former projectionist employed there for the final 18 months, the name changed to Curzon on 11th September 1950 and a wide screen was installed in June 1954. He added “There followed 3D and CinemaScope but it was doomed to a short life. It struggled through most of the 1960's”. He also recounts how the Curzon Cinema shared a reel of Pathé News with the ABC, with much running between the two.
KYB 1954 lists the new name and owners and the change of sound system to BTH (British Thompson Houston). KYB 1957 lists 750 seats, a 29ft by 12ft screen in a 35ft wide proscenium, and facilities to show CinemaScope and 3-D. The Curzon Cinema was still open in 1966, but had closed by 1969.
Contributed by
H J Hill
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Recent comments (view all 2 comments)
Photo uploaded. Overview photo, of course, shows the earlier ‘Picturedrome’….
When I was at the ABC, Huddersfield, one of the staff members, one Mrs Harvey, often used to speak to me about her time at the Curzon, Huddersfield. She worked there for a number of years, the last few being for Hutchinson’s Ltd for whom she was Acting Manager during the final year before the Curzon’s compulsory purchase by Huddersfield Council ( a Philistine lot by any standards when you consider the lost opportunities at both the ABC Ritz and the Palace).
She told me about the hair raising instances involved by sharing the ‘Pathe News’ with the ABC Ritz (where she eventually ended her cinematic years)in addition to the occasion when FTS inadvertently delivered ‘Summer Holiday’ to the Curzon instead of the ABC. She said to the Curzon manager “Can’t we show it as it has been delivered here?”. You can imagine his response!
Anyway, Hutchinsons Ltd valued Molly Harvey enough to invite her to assist her former Manager at the Regent Fleetwood following closure of the Curzon and this she did for a year or so from 1967.