Former Theatre Royal

Former Theatre Royal

This former theatre and cinema on Corporation Street in Hyde was built in 1901-2 by the Manchester architects Campbell and Horsley. Constructed of red brick and terracotta with render and stock brick to the rear, it is a three-storey building with attics and slate roofs.

The striking frontage is nine bays wide with an elaborate symmetrical composition. A broad central bay features a round terracotta arch with keystone, flanked by pilasters. The three central bays contain windows in terracotta surrounds on the second storey, with two oeil de boeufs above flanked by balustrading. Moulded and cut brick decoration in the pediment is flanked by finials. The remaining three bays have simpler short pilasters and keystones, which continue along the Henry Street elevation. Sash windows in timber frames are throughout. Ground-floor doors under a projecting canopy are blocked. A lantern crowns the roof.

The Theatre Royal opened in 1902 as a replacement for an earlier Theatre Royal on Frank Street. It first showed films in 1914 and combined live theatrical performances with cinema until 1972.

The interior remains substantially intact. The auditorium preserves stalls, circle and gallery levels, with cast-iron columns supporting the circle, which retains its plaster ceiling. A large coved ceiling forms a central dome over the auditorium, with a steeply raked gallery continuing behind. The balcony fronts display elaborate plaster swag decoration. The proscenium arch survives with its top cresting, though it is now blocked by a later inserted cinema screen. Behind this, the theatrical flies, grid and a 13.4-metre deep raked stage remain intact. A lighting perch to the left of the stage contains a Rank Sunset Dimmer rack (Grand Master version) connected to dimmers in the projection box. The rear cinema projection box houses two carbon arc Kalee projectors with President lamphouses and Universal bases, a later discharge lamp film projector, two carbon arc discharge follow spots, a carbon arc discharge slide projector (all of probable 1950s date), a mercury discharge transformer and an AC-DC generator in an adjoining room.