Hyde Park Cinema

Details

LEEDS

SE2835SW BRUDENELL ROAD, Hyde Park 714-1/69/874 (South side) Hyde Park Cinema

GV II

Cinema. c1914, possibly adapting premises of c1908. Red brick, Marmo details. 3-storey canted corner entrance bay, 5-bay auditorium. Entrance: semicircular open lobby with Ionic columns in antis support moulded cornice and entablature with raised lettering: 'PICTURE . HYDE PARK . HOUSE', modillion cornice above; paired windows to 1st floor in imitation white stone surround with segmental arches and keystones; flanking small-pane sashes. Pilasters between windows rise through cornice with 3-light window flanked by balustraded parapet at 2nd-floor level; elaborate moulded Dutch-style gable with ball finials. To right: auditorium facade with pilasters and 3 keyed recessed panels flanked by oval blind panels, panelled door with flat hood supported by scrolled cast-iron ties far right, dentilled cornice, square ventilator with dome to centre of ridge. Rear: a plain wall to auditorium, double doors with stepped moulded panels left. Left return: 2 bays, the narrow left bay has panelled door with hood as front, the wide right bay has a segmental keyed arch to 3-light staircase window, the wooden frame having slim moulded columns, central scrolled pediment, stained-glass panels; keyed round window (to projection room) and moulded gable above, tall banded corner stack left. INTERIOR: mosaic floor to entrance lobby, paired glazed doors flank the original ticket booth, stair hall with original paired doors to auditorium right, divided panelled staircase with square balusters and lit by 3-light window with painted glass surviving left; scrolled wrought-iron Art Nouveau light pendant. Auditorium walls retain moulded panels, pilasters, cornice and ribbed arched ceiling; the panels which are visible are plain but at screen end the original decorative plasterwork has survived with gilded cherubs, swags and festoons enclosing the panels, the original screen painted on the W end wall. Central ventilation shaft. Circle balcony front has plaster festoons, brackets and shields; 1st-floor entrance to circle through original paired doors, the top panels glazed in red with engraved stars. Other features of interest include fire hose and fittings at

foot of stairs, gas lighting to auditorium, circle seating of the 1930s from the Gaumont in Leeds, automatic shutter system to close projection apertures worked from foyer, former wide fireplace in entrance hall altered to ticket office, ornate door to basement area (gents). HISTORICAL NOTE: reputed to have been built as an hotel by Henry Childs, the site was occupied by the Brudenell Road Social and Recreation Club by 1908 (Kelly's Directory). The building is reputed to have been used as a picture house by November 1914, and the name 'Hyde Park Picture House' is listed in Kelly's Directory for 1916, the manager Joseph A Hardy living next door. The lower part of the auditorium front wall was originally protected by a glazed canopy. (Thompson J, cinema owner (pers. comm.); Kelly's Directories of Leeds: 1908-1916).

Listing NGR: SE2845035169

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

465641

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Kellys Directory in Leeds, (1915)

End of official list entry

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