Mgm Cinema
MGM CINEMA, MAGDALEN STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1230655
- Date first listed:
- 25-Nov-1994
- List Entry Name:
- Mgm Cinema
- Statutory Address:
- MGM CINEMA, MAGDALEN STREET
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Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2004-01-18
- Reference:
- IOE01/10740/14
- Rights:
- © Mr John O'Brien. Source: Historic England Archive
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1230655
- Date first listed:
- 25-Nov-1994
- List Entry Name:
- Mgm Cinema
- Statutory Address 1:
- MGM CINEMA, MAGDALEN STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- MGM CINEMA, MAGDALEN STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Oxfordshire
- District:
- Oxford (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SP 51182 06476
Details
SP5106SW OXFORD MAGDALEN STREET
(West side) 612- /8/10034 MGM Cinema GV II Cinema. 1922-24 by Frank Matcham and Company (the successor practice under F G M Chancellor) and J C Leeds. Brick, rendered to front, slate and asphalt roofs only partly seen. Narrow two-bay front with three storeys of former flats over entrance vestibule which extends back to form wider foyer with first floor cafe (disused) over and auditorium with single, shallow balcony. Facade with early twentieth-century fenestration pattern and decorative pilasters but may retain mid-nineteenth century fabric behind. This range internally retains staircase above first-floor level, cornices, cupboards and fireplaces, all of a late nineteenth or early twentieth-century character. Foyer retains panelling and moulded plaster ceilings behind late C20 cladding and false ceiling. Staircase with iron balustrade leads to cafe with moulded plaster decoration. Auditorium a double-height space with barrel vault, moulded prosenium arch and shallow rear balcony. A heavy modillion cornice runs round the hall, which is decorated by round-arched niches either side of balcony and proscenium. Between these the wall is filled with murals of 1924 by G Rushton depicting 'Modern Sport' and 'Early Learning'. All this decoration now concealed behind curtains, for acoustic reasons, though two of four gilded urns - an important surviving part of the original composition - exposed over rusticated dado moulding. Balcony has original front, dadoes, and crush rails to rear and round central panelled vomitory. Included as a rare surviving little-altered cinema of the early 1920s, with the exceptional added interest of surviving original scheme of mural decoration. Sources The Builder, 11 July 1924 Paul J Marriott, Early Oxford Picture Palaces, 1978
Listing NGR: SP5118206476
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 405636
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Marriott, P J, Early Oxford Picture Palaces, (1978)
The Builder in 11 July, (1924)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 24-Jun-2026 at 18:29:35.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.