Apparently constructed on the stadium principle with a steeply raked rear section utilising the hillside on which it is built. It is located in a residential area on the outskirts of town. The stage does not have a fly tower.
January 2015 update. The auditorium interior has now been completely removed, along with the remains of the roof, leaving just the outside walls. Difficult to see from outside, but it looks like at least part of the balcony has also been demolished. Photos:–
The Aberdeen Walk Picture House was designed by Frank Tugwell and opened on Saturday 10th September 1920. It was a unique design in that the company had intended to buy a plot of land to the right of the cinema and the design incorporated this increased width. In the event the land was not available and the design was adapted to a lopsided interior as if one third of the width had been lopped-off.
It was equipped with a small stage which was often pressed into use in the Summer season, and by 1960 it was announced that it would become a permanent live theatre under the Gaiety name, although this was short lived as by 1963 it was a bingo hall.
Towards the end of the first decade of the 21st Century the hall was gutted at ground floor level and a modern shop interior inserted as a short-lived department store in the style of Woolworths, later it was taken over by the British Heart Foundation as a furniture outlet.
Opened as the Londesborough Rooms on the 14th November 1871, a multi-purpose ballroom, concert hall and meeting room, with a flat stalls floor and two balconies with side balconies entending to the raised platform stage and possibly a third flat fronted balcony at the rear.
It was designed by Messrs Stewart & Bury of Scarborough for Mr Waddington, a pianoforte manufacturer who owned an adjacent shop. After only six months extensive alterations took place to remove the platform and build a conventional stage, and to rake the stalls seating. It reopened 13th July 1872 as the Londesborough Theatre.
It was again rebuilt internally in the winter of 1913/14 when Mr Watson of Leeds designed a completely new theatre – only the outer walls survived. This included a projection box and the theatre opened with a film on 11th July 1914, but reverted to stage shows immediately after with a variety show headed by George Formby. In 1925 the last recorded stage performance took place – the musical “The Geisha Girl”, and films took over completely until closure on the 19th September 1959.
By now much of the building was disused – the stage still containing act-drops, the upper levels and bars closed off, and the caverous basement (once advertised as one of only two artificial ice-rinks in Europe) derelict. It had been sold for £27,000 in August 1959 and demolition commenced 3rd June 1960, completed by the end of August.
It was, for much of its later life owned by Londesborough and Capitol Cinemas (Scarborough) Ltd, and run in tandem with the nearly opposite Capitol Cinema. Interior photographs and plans have been frustratingly impossible to locate.
I have just updated Google street view to a rather distorted image under the Grand Hotel. The bricked up arch to wards the left is, I believe, part of the foyer area of the cinema, but the site is now covered by the road which was made a dual carriageway. The auditorium was long and narrow and stretched across to the right of the streetview.
Correction to above text – a wall was not dropped to the front of the balcony, a horizontal sub-divison at balcony level took place to create the two cinemas in the original auditorium.
A photo of the Kings operating as a bingo hall here:–
KINGS CINEMA
A photo of the Palace can be found here:–
PALACE THEATRE
Some 2015 shots:–
FACADE
STAGE
AUDITORIUM
A 2015 shot as the Vue:–
VUE CINEMA
The former front stalls area of the cinema in 2008
ARTS CENTRE
and the current auditorium in what appears to be an extension to the balcony
ARTS CENTRE
Two interior shots from 2007
CEILING
PROSCENIUM
Post fire shot of the Theatre Royal here:–
THEATRE ROYAL
Interior shots of the Regal in 2011 here:–
PROSCENIUM
BALCONY CINEMA
Another picture of the Palace in 2007 here:–
PALACE CINEMA
Another (festive!) photo of the Picture House:–
PICTURE HOUSE
Interior photos of the Grand Theatre here:–
LEEDS GRAND STAGE
LEEDS GRAND AUDITORIUM
LEEDS GRAND THEATRE
A photo of the derelict foyer block here:–
REGAL CINEMA
Apparently constructed on the stadium principle with a steeply raked rear section utilising the hillside on which it is built. It is located in a residential area on the outskirts of town. The stage does not have a fly tower.
Another photo from the other side here:–
EMPIRE THEATRE
January 2015 update. The auditorium interior has now been completely removed, along with the remains of the roof, leaving just the outside walls. Difficult to see from outside, but it looks like at least part of the balcony has also been demolished. Photos:–
MAJESTIC CINEMA
MAJESTIC CINEMA
MAJESTIC CINEMA
A night time photo taken during the last weeks of operation here:–
ODEON WEST END
The Aberdeen Walk Picture House was designed by Frank Tugwell and opened on Saturday 10th September 1920. It was a unique design in that the company had intended to buy a plot of land to the right of the cinema and the design incorporated this increased width. In the event the land was not available and the design was adapted to a lopsided interior as if one third of the width had been lopped-off.
It was equipped with a small stage which was often pressed into use in the Summer season, and by 1960 it was announced that it would become a permanent live theatre under the Gaiety name, although this was short lived as by 1963 it was a bingo hall.
Towards the end of the first decade of the 21st Century the hall was gutted at ground floor level and a modern shop interior inserted as a short-lived department store in the style of Woolworths, later it was taken over by the British Heart Foundation as a furniture outlet.
Opened as the Londesborough Rooms on the 14th November 1871, a multi-purpose ballroom, concert hall and meeting room, with a flat stalls floor and two balconies with side balconies entending to the raised platform stage and possibly a third flat fronted balcony at the rear.
It was designed by Messrs Stewart & Bury of Scarborough for Mr Waddington, a pianoforte manufacturer who owned an adjacent shop. After only six months extensive alterations took place to remove the platform and build a conventional stage, and to rake the stalls seating. It reopened 13th July 1872 as the Londesborough Theatre.
It was again rebuilt internally in the winter of 1913/14 when Mr Watson of Leeds designed a completely new theatre – only the outer walls survived. This included a projection box and the theatre opened with a film on 11th July 1914, but reverted to stage shows immediately after with a variety show headed by George Formby. In 1925 the last recorded stage performance took place – the musical “The Geisha Girl”, and films took over completely until closure on the 19th September 1959.
By now much of the building was disused – the stage still containing act-drops, the upper levels and bars closed off, and the caverous basement (once advertised as one of only two artificial ice-rinks in Europe) derelict. It had been sold for £27,000 in August 1959 and demolition commenced 3rd June 1960, completed by the end of August.
It was, for much of its later life owned by Londesborough and Capitol Cinemas (Scarborough) Ltd, and run in tandem with the nearly opposite Capitol Cinema. Interior photographs and plans have been frustratingly impossible to locate.
I have just updated Google street view to a rather distorted image under the Grand Hotel. The bricked up arch to wards the left is, I believe, part of the foyer area of the cinema, but the site is now covered by the road which was made a dual carriageway. The auditorium was long and narrow and stretched across to the right of the streetview.
Photos from 2012 – the Memo should make a great place to see a film.
FOYER
AUDITORIUM
A photo of the facade in 2002:–
MAJESTIC
Further photos from November 2014 here:–
EXTERIOR
FOYER
AUDITORIUM
The Pilot cinema was demolished in the summer of 2014.
Correction to above text – a wall was not dropped to the front of the balcony, a horizontal sub-divison at balcony level took place to create the two cinemas in the original auditorium.
Photos from November 2014:– EXTERIOR
FOYER
SCREEN 1
SCREEN 2
Photos of the glorious Tyneside from 2014 EXTERIOR
FOYER
CLASSIC
ELECTRA
ROXY
Photo from circa 1986
EMPIRE FACADE
And from 1997
EMPIRE PROSCENIUM