Norfolk Heritage Explorer

Location

Full description

Built 1914, once supposed to be the most luxurious cinema outside London. Now a rare example of cinema totally surviving as originally built with dressing rooms for stage performances etc.
See (S1)-(S3) in file.
E. Rose (NAU), 7 May 1982.

August 1974. Listed, Grade II.
Listing Description excerpt:
"Cinema. 1914. By Francis Burdett Ward. For cinema magnate FH Cooper. Now a bingo hall and amusement arcade. Rendered, colourwashed and stuccoed brick and some artificial stone decoration. Roof not visible.
EXTERIOR: Two-three storeys; six-window range. Façade with a wide central bay surmounted by a Diocletian window. To the right is a late 20th-century amusement arcade, to the left a tea rooms, the latter original but externally altered. Upper two floors articulated by a pair of giant columns with Ionic capitals standing on paired console brackets in the centre and two progressively narrower bays right and left separated by giant Ionic pilasters on bases. Between the columns are four two-light casements below a frieze of artificial stone by Crotch & Son (of Norwich) depicting Comedy, Tragedy, owls, baskets of fruit, lyres and other theatrical impedimenta. The side bays have again paired two-light casements, this time at a lower level and below stuccoed panels. Above are one oculi to the narrow outer bays and 2 oculi to the wider inner bays, all under artificial stone garlands. Crowning entablature to the composition now lost.
INTERIOR: central marble steps lead to foyer. Inverted Imperial stairs with late 20th-century handrails. Rococo-style plasterwork in profusion, tending more to the Baroque in the coffered ceiling of the tea rooms. In the tea room also are depicted friezes of cherubs dragging swags and garlands. The auditorium has thin cast-iron columns supporting a wavy wall-plate under the three principal boxes right and left. A wide segmental arch supports the main balcony. At intervals gilt putti playing pan-pipes and trumpets are depicted in relief. Above the boxes are 5 basket arches on columns, and above these are oculi decorated and linked with garlands. Proscenium arch to the stage remains as do dressing rooms."
Information from (S1).
Please consult the National Heritage List for England (S1) for the current listing details.
It is interesting information that the artificial stone reliefs are by Crotch and Son of Norwich, not a firm such as Burmantofts as one might expect.
E. Rose (NLA), 28 April 1999. Amended by P. Watkins (HES), 14 March 2022.

Monument Types

• CINEMA (World War One to 21st Century - 1914 AD to 2100 AD)

Associated Finds - none

Protected Status

• Listed Building

Sources and further reading

Related records - none

Find out more...

• Great Yarmouth: Strange facts (Urban Summary)
• Norfolk's Archaeological Curiosities (Article)