Comments from fleshfields

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fleshfields
fleshfields commented about Alhambra Theatre on Aug 5, 2009 at 10:59 am

Michael vd Leer mentions the original Alhambra in Riebeeck Street. It was designed in 1911 by the architects MacGillivray & Grant for Wiener & Co. The projected cost was 7,000 pounds but it cost more than that because a sliding roof was added.

WH Grant was to go on to design the chain of cinemas down the Cape Peninsula in the late ‘30s and early '40s including the Scala, Savoy, Bijou, Empire, etc. Also the Protea in Paarl, the Colosseum in Cape Town and the Del Monico Palais de Danse.

There is a picture of the Alhambra Picture Palace design drawing here View link

fleshfields
fleshfields commented about Protea Cinema on Aug 5, 2009 at 10:41 am

There are 8 more photos of the Protea here: View link

Besides the Protea, the architect WH Grant (Billy Grant) designed a chain of cinemas down the Cape Peninsula in the late 1930s. They included the Savoy in Rosebank (1937), the Scala at Claremont (1937), the Bijou in Obs (1941), the Grand at Maitland (1940), the Empire in Muizenberg (1941), etc. He also designed the Colosseum in Cape Town (1936) and the Del Monico Palais de Danse (1935). After the War his firm also designed the Van Riebeek (1951) and the Lantern in Parow (1956).