The Ritz Cinema

Reasons for Designation

* Designed by notable Scottish architect John Fairweather, who specialised in cinema architecture. Many of his surviving Scottish cinemas are listed.
* The inclusion of the façade of the previous building on site - St Georges Hall of 1867 - demonstrates the interesting continuity of purpose on site.
* The internal decorative scheme is of good quality and remains remarkably intact despite later subdivision, and includes unusual coloured glass lighting.
* The in-situ plasterwork friezes by George Legg of Bryan's Adamanta, notable for his decorative work in other listed cinemas.
* The commissioning of the cinema by Orton and Spooner in 1935, with their origins in fairground cinema shows is a testament to the development of this sector in the first half of the C20.

Details

944/0/10020

GUILD STREET
The Ritz Cinema

14-DEC-07

II

Cinema of 1935, now disused. It originally seated approximately 1,500. Designed by John Fairweather, of Glasgow, with Thomas Jenkins, then Mayor of Burton. The interior was designed by Annie Orton, a relation of the owner, with plasterwork friezes by George Legg of Bryan's Adamanta. It is built of brick on a steel frame by Burton Constructional Engineering Company, with stone dressings, in a Modernist style. The plan has a foyer and first floor café at front and double height auditorium to rear.

EXTERIOR: The entrance elevation faces Guild Street and is symmetrical in composition of four storeys and five bays. The central entrance is approached by three broad stone steps, set back from the street, with a canopy above at string course. The central part of the façade above the canopy projects forward with canted edges. At first floor, there are five large square windows, in a horizontal group within a thick stone frame with nicked corners. These Crittal windows have thin glazing bars providing fifteen panes each in a vertical style. Above this at second floor is a group of five 6-pane square windows, divided by thick stone mullions, with a continuous narrow stone sill. At either end is a separate 6-light window. The end bays have rectangular windows of corresponding height with narrow stone sills. There is a heavy stone cornice which incorporates the uppermost storey windows. These are set into the cornice at regular intervals with horizontal-incised jambs.
The cornice and string course continue around the right reveal, which echoes the façade in its design. To the right of this is the long auditorium which consists of concrete frame with brick infill. At the rear, part of the original 1867 façade of St George's Hall remains and forms the rear of the auditorium building. It is loosely Jacobean in design, of three bays and two storeys, built in red brick with blue brick banding. There is a central round arched doorway to the ground floor with stone drip mould and key stone. At first floor three sets of round-arched tripartite windows sit above chequerboard brick work and decorative banded string course. There is a stepped brick cornice at eaves level; above this the pitched roof of the auditorium is visible with tile hung gable end. All the openings have been bricked in and early photographs of the hall depict a further storey with shaped gables.
The blue brick banding continues to the north reveal and apart from the upper courses it would appear that most of this elevation is of C19 date as well. This elevation is partially obscured by adjacent buildings but it would appear to continue to the large stack, which also has brick banding, just visible from Guild Street.

INTERIOR: Art Deco decorative scheme remains almost completely intact although there have been some later alterations, in particular to the auditorium. At ground floor the foyer has a terrazzo floor with starburst design, and late-C20 ticket booth. There is a small office to one side containing what appears to be original safe. Stairs to the right lead to the stalls and retain metal geometric art deco hand rails. At stalls level two small screens have been inserted, effectively sealing this level from the large screen in the auditorium. The supporting columns with Egyptian-style capitals remain as does the moulded plaster soffit decoration. The auditorium itself retains its decorative scheme in entirety, comprising large geometric light and ventilation fittings on the vaulted ceiling, geometric plasterwork to the side walls and ceiling. To either side of the proscenium, with its original curtains, are skyscraper motif panels, and beyond this on the splay walls are purpose-designed plaster work friezes, signed by George Legg. That to the left depicts a stylised female figure, loosely Egyptian in appearance, to the fore, with a large bird and gazelle-like creature behind. The panel to the right is different in its handling with two more life-like figures peering at the audience from behind a tree.
At first floor the former café has been divided; the area to the front has been partitioned to provide small staff rooms, the back of the café is now a bar with C20 counter and seating, and polystyrene suspended ceiling. As with the stalls décor, the original supporting columns that ran the length of the café are still present between the divisions as is the decoration to the side walls and door surrounds. Above the suspended ceiling the original cove lighting remains and retains its coloured glass lights. On the second floor are small service rooms with painted brick walls. The third floor houses the projector room which retains the projectors, switchboard and spool table.

HISTORY: The cinema was opened on 11th March 1935 as The Ritz, on the site of St George's Hall, built in 1867 and latterly to become a theatre and opera house before closing in 1934. The Ritz was commissioned by Orton and Spooner, a local firm famous in fairground circles for their elaborate wagons and shows. They had expanded into cinema in the early C20 and owned the Burton Picturedrome Company, operating a number of cinemas in the town.

Fairweather designed numerous cinemas in Scotland, including Green's Playhouse in Glasgow (1927), at the time the largest cinema in Europe, since demolished. He worked mostly for the Green and Kemp families, who like Orton and Spooner had made the transition from fairground cinema shows to permanent venues. Green had connections with Orton and Spooner which explains the unusual commissioning of a Scottish architect south of the border.

The cinema changed ownership during the second half of the C20 and underwent a series of name changes. It was subdivided in late 1970s and was further refurbished in 1980s, before closing in the late 1990s.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION DECISION
The former Ritz Cinema is designated grade II for the following principal reasons:

* Designed by notable Scottish architect John Fairweather, who specialised in cinema architecture. Many of his surviving Scottish cinemas are listed.
* The inclusion of the façade of the previous building on site - St Georges Hall of 1867 - demonstrates the interesting continuity of purpose on site.
* The internal decorative scheme is of good quality and remains remarkably intact despite later subdivision, and includes unusual coloured glass lighting.
* The in-situ plasterwork friezes by George Legg of Bryan's Adamanta, notable for his decorative work in other listed cinemas.
* The commissioning of the cinema by Orton and Spooner in 1935, with their origins in fairground cinema shows is a testament to the development of this sector in the first half of the C20.
SK2475823089

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 24 June 2025 to correct a typo in the description

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