City Hall

Malthouse Lane,
Salisbury, SP2 7TU

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City Hall (Official)

Additional Info

Previously operated by: Albany Ward Circuit, Gaumont-British-Picture Corp., Ltd., Rank Organisation

Architects: William Edward Trent, William Sydney Trent

Functions: Concerts, Conference Center, Live Performances

Styles: Art Deco

Previous Names: New Picture House, Picture House, Odeon

Phone Numbers: Box Office: 440172.243.4434

Nearby Theaters

New Picture House Salisbury. Wilts.

Built by Gaumont British Theatres and Albany Ward as a replacement for the original (almost adjacent) Picture House, the New Picture House opened on 27th September 1937 with Cedric Hardwick in "King Solomon’s Mines". Designed by Gaumont’s favoured architects E.A & W.S Trent, together with R.C.H. Golding.

The exterior was set back slightly from the pavement and had two small brick towers each side of the entrance. Seating in the 1,313 capacity auditorium was on a stadium plan, with no overhanging balcony, instead there was a raised stepped area at the rear.

By 1945 it had been re-named Picture House. It was re-named Odeon from 27th February 1950 and was closed by the Rank Organisation on 30th December 1961. The Odeon name was transfered to the Gaumont, which still operates in 2008.

The building was sold to the city of Salisbury and was converted into a live performance/concert venue. Now known as the City Hall, it had a major re-furbishment in 1985 and most of the original interior decoration was removed, apart from in the foyer area.

Contributed by Ken Roe

Recent comments (view all 3 comments)

abcman
abcman on September 30, 2008 at 4:14 pm

It has a very large foyer area with two entrances. Was shown round last year. Staff very friendly and helpful, which makes a change. Very often when I ask to look around an old theatre, I’m told no, everything is locked up for security reasons, so this made a welcome change.

CSWalczak
CSWalczak on October 31, 2012 at 8:23 am

Here is an exterior view of the theatre in 1945 when it was the Picture House.

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