Piccadilly Theatre
11-13 Piccadilly,
Manchester,
M1 1LY
11-13 Piccadilly,
Manchester,
M1 1LY
No one has favorited this theater yet
Showing 4 comments
contact me at prestwichsloopy at gmail with a dot com on the end :–)
I’d be happy to take that fork off your hands. It’ll sit next to my Odeon fork with the Rank logo on it.
Hi, Thanks for the article. I have a Nickel plated fork that an ancestor appears to have “acquired” from this establishment, marked with “Piccadilly Theatre Manchester”. Does anyone want the fork?
Dennis Sharp’s “The Picture Palace” (1969) has cross-section, plans and a 1920s façade view on pages 92 & 93.
The ground plan was not rectangular; the side wall to the left of the screen stepped in by about 9 feet. This created a decidedly odd seating layout. Stalls seats had an aisle centred on the screen with 16-seat-wide blocks to left and right, but there was a third 6-seat-wide block on the far left. Because the seats were in straight rows, the sight lines from the extra block on the left must have been dire (the screen was about 20 feet to their right). This asymmetry was repeated in the two circles. However their stepped rows of seats were on curves arranged around the screen, so sight-lines would have been better.
Projection was from the back of the lower circle. The projection suite was behind the middle five of the lower line of square windows in the photo above (i.e. with triangular tops above them).
The central bottom set of windows (with curved tops) were to a foyer fitted under the projection suite and part of the rear of the first circle. The central top set of square windows were to a foyer under the rear of the upper circle, the middle portion of which went right back to the blank wall below the balustrade*.
There were a lot of stairs to climb in there; and a lot of full-height stairwells, plus three lifts. There was no depth to the stage. There was a basement (ballroom) and a sub-basement with ventilation plant etc.
The pilasters (see the photo) divide the facade into 5 bays. From left to right, at pavement level the bays were above: a pair of exit doors for stairs down the far corner of the building; a main entrance; two shop units (one narrow, one wide); a second main entrance; a narrow shop unit.