Abc Cinema
ABC CINEMA, WARDS END
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1385013
- Date first listed:
- 05-Oct-2000
- List Entry Name:
- Abc Cinema
- Statutory Address:
- ABC CINEMA, WARDS END
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2007-08-10
- Reference:
- IOE01/16892/09
- Rights:
- © Mr Nigel Wood. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1385013
- Date first listed:
- 05-Oct-2000
- List Entry Name:
- Abc Cinema
- Statutory Address 1:
- ABC CINEMA, WARDS END
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:
- ABC CINEMA, WARDS END
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Calderdale (Metropolitan Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- SE 09292 24968
Details
HALIFAX
679/0/10283 WARD'S END
05-OCT-00 Halifax
ABC Cinema
GV II
Also Known As: Regal Cinema, WARD'S END, Halifax
Cinema with integral row of shops to the north facing Alexandra Street. Opened in September 1938 as the Regal for the original ABC company (Associated British Cinemas). Architect: William Riddell Glen, FRIAS, LRIBA (1884-1950).
Thin courses of squared stone with ashlar panels and dressings; roof not visible. Plan a rounded triangle. Moderne style. Two and three storeys 1:3:6 windows to Commercial Street.
EXTERIOR: Entrance has vertical tiles on curved sides framing three pairs of renewed glass doors; fascia projects in two stages. Above, ashlar panel has projecting end fins acting as pilasters with bands in place of capitals; nearly full width projection contains triple lights set in architrave; long fluted aprons to these windows which have horizontal metal glazing bars; small narrow lights flank this group. Roof parapet has central projecting block. To the left of entrance block, a shop has plate glass window below deep fascia in green vitrolite; above, two windows of two lights under deep ashlar frieze and flat coped roof parapet. Behind this the curved wall of the cinema rises to full height and has a single window at third storey level. To right of entrance the ground floor is of rusticated ashlar with deeply recessed openings for two emergency exits and hatches. Above, windows are in two-storey panels, with fluted decoration joining lower and upper windows and with a deep ashlar lintel band; from this a second curve with two lights breaks forward to join the right return. Windows one and two lights with metal horizontal glazing bars. Rendered patching to first floor by the continuation of the broad band of green vitrolite; metal framed two and three light windows to first floor. Right return to Ward's End has canted wall with large blank centre space; either side are window panels with two and four lights. Ground floor level projects as curving wall with symmetrical arrangement of deeply recessed exit door at centre flanked by two sets of single-light paired windows. At extreme right another ashlar panel with five windows with one, two and three lights.
INTERIOR: Foyer has stepped roof panels, and original stair at right. Fan-shaped auditorium has two small cinemas inserted, leaving balcony and original full-height proscenium as third cinema. This has banded flanking walls with fleur de lys finials to shallow pilasters; proscenium arch, with panelled architrave surrounded by an ornate grille, is flanked by curving fluted recesses containing statues (replacements of the originals from the ABC Harrogate, now demolished) on fountain-shaped plinths. Ceiling in subdued Jacobean style with strap decoration and pendants. Some original fine wood doors with rich glass viewing panels survive. Other surviving decoration includes fluted curved coping to balcony foyer.
ANALYSIS: Despite subdivision, the auditorium remains a good example of an elaborate William Glen interior where e combined the Moderne with historical styles. Virtually all the cinemas built by Associated British Cinemas in the 1930s have now been drastically altered or demolished, making this one, with much surviving original decoration, a rarity. The unusually bold fortress-like exterior adds to the interest of the building.
SOURCES
Allen Eyles, ABC The First Name in Entertainment, Cinema Theatre
Association, London 1993, p.p.43,45 & 141;
Richard Gray, Cinemas in Britain, Lund Humphries, London 1996, p.138
Listing NGR: SE0929224968
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 485473
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Eyles, A, ABC. The First Name in Entertainment, (1993), 43 45 141
Gray, R, Cinemas in Britain: One Hundred Years of Cinema Architecture, (1996), 138
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 28-Jun-2026 at 21:12:49.
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.