The Picturedrome

Details

HOLME VALLEY

13/0/10024 MARKET WALK 18-MAY-07 THE PICTUREDROME

II Cinema, 1912-13, designed by P. Norman Brown of Holmfirth for Hawthorne and King. The building is in red brick, mainly rendered with exposed brick pillars, with a slate pitched roof. There is a louvre on the ridge towards the front of the building.

ELEVATIONS: main entrance at the gable end to the south-east. Two double doors with original oval glazing bars in upper halves and overlights are centrally placed, divided by a brick pilaster. Stone banded brick pilasters to each side support a balcony, formerly an external projection box. The pilasters continue to break the roof line with semi-circular caps. The balcony has three blocked openings and a window. There is a projecting stone band at first floor, and one window to each side on ground and first floor, with stone dressings. The raised apex of the gable carries a date stone of 1912 surmounted by a stone cartouche. Both sides of the building are rendered brick with exposed brick pilasters and various openings, some blocked. To the rear is a first floor entrance to the stage and gallery areas with altered external access stair.

INTERIOR: The doors open into an entrance foyer with an inserted reception desk at the rear. Stairs to the first floor gallery rise to the left with original green, yellow and white Art Deco tiling to each side. Doors to the Gentlemans toilets to the left and the Ladies toilets lto the right have original lettering in the glass. The main auditorium has a bar area to the rear beneath the gallery, modern seating in the central section and an open area at the front. The flattened proscenium arch around the screen has a decorative plasterwork band with a central cartouche. The lower portion on the right side has been restored using the original mould. The ceiling is a coffered segmented barrel vault in pressed tin, with ceiling roses forming part of the ventilation system. To either side of the stage are exit doors with raised pediments, with a further door on the right side of the auditorium, and shuttered (blocked) windows along each side. The gallery runs along the rear and right hand side of the auditorium: the curved front is decorated with ornate plasterwork. There is no seating, and a projection room has been inserted into the front part of the rear section. Some openings to a former projection room at the rear survive. Behind the screen are two small rooms to the left, and additional timber and steel work has been inserted to support a first floor room in the area of the former fly tower. Truncated remains of the fly equipment remain in the ceiling. There is an original emergency exit to the rear of the side gallery.

HISTORY: The cinema was the first purpose built cinema in Holmfirth, opened on March 1st 1913. It was then called the Valley Theatre, and originally seated 800 in the stalls and 240 in the gallery. The building incorporated a number of safety features, including the pressed tin ceiling, ventilation system and multiple emergency exits. It had an external projection and lighting box cantilevered over the main entrance, and its own electric plant with supplementary gas lighting. The stage was designed for live shows as well as films, and there were two small dressing rooms behind the stage.

The external projection room was removed in the 1920's and replaced with one inside the building: this survives but with no equipment. The first dound feature was presented in 1930, when a new screen was installed and projection and sound systems improved. By 1952 the seating capacity had been reduced to 779, and the cinema closed in 1967. It was opened as a Bingo hall and used as such until c.1993. It then remained closed until 1998 when after refurbishment it reopened as the Picturdrome. The building is still in use as a cinema with occasional live shows.

There are strong historical connections with the Bamforth family who originated in Holmfirth and were very early film makers. The firm was founded in 1870, making magic lantern slides, and by 1898 Bamforths were making films with Riley Brothers of Bradford. Some of their early films were shown at the Valley Theatre, and it has been suggested that professional members of the company also appeared live on the stage. Bamforths, whose studio was nearby in Homfirth, went on to specialise in postcards, calendars and birthday cards, but their films are acknowledged as important in the early history of cinema, providing the earliest examples of British comic film. The financial involvement of the Bamforths in the theatre at its opening is unclear. Hawthorne and King are described as the proprietors, but Harry Vernon is variously described as manager and proprietor. Vernon knew the Bamforths and his obituary states that he gave the firm their first commission to film the Holmfirth Whitsuntide procession. Bamforths may have provided financial backing to the first owners, and the firm acquired an interest in the cinema after the First World War.

SOURCES: The Theatres Trust: Guide to British Theatres 1750-1950 (2000), p.79 Richard Brown: Film and Postcards : Cross-Media Symbiosis in Early Bamforth Films, 236-252. Bamforth, James, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE The Picturedrome in Holmfirth was built in 1912, and is a small but little altered example of an early purpose built cinema. Its major features including gallery, proscenium, foyer and a rare pressed tin ceiling remain intact. Additionally, it has strong historical associations with the firm of James Bamforth of Holmfirth who was an important early film maker whose locally made films were shown here and who had some financial stake in the building. It is still in use as a cinema, despite an interval of use as a bingo hall and a period of closure.

The national criteria for buildings of this type focus on architectural quality, quality of decoration, rarity and novelty, historic associations and intactness. Any pre-1914 building should be seriously considered for listing. This cinema, although not of the highest architectural quality, has a rare feature in its pressed tin ceiling, is almost entirely intact, and has strong and important historical connections. It therefore meets the national criteria for designation. SE1422208200

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

502936

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: James Bamforth, (2004)
Brown, R, Film and Postcards: Cross-Media Symbiosis in Early Bamforth Films, (), 236-252
Earl, John, Sell, Michael, The Theatres Trust Guide to British Theatres 1750 - 1950, (2000), 79

End of official list entry

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