Tatton Cinema

1.

SJ 79 SE TRAFFORD WASHWAY ROAD

3/200 Tatton Cinema II 2.

Cinema. 1933 by Joseph Gomersall of Drury and Gomersall. Brick and rendering, hipped Welsh slate roof with tiled ridge to front block, not visible from street, felted auditorium. Neo-Egyptian style. Impressive frontage with full height pylons flanking the entrance. Above the entrance are four columns with lotus capitals which once carried the name PYRAMID and the clock, both now gone. The pylons have plain shop windows below and tall narrow windows with projecting cornices above. The whole gives the impression of a gateway at Thebes in a Hollywood Biblical epic.

Interior: Complete and little altered Egyptian decorative scheme, the detail apparently taken from Banister-Fletcher. Foyer with terazzo floor and compartmented ceiling, staircase, upper foyer with balcony, ballroom over front foyer. All these are complete with their original decoration. The auditorium is also unchanged apart from lining the walls and ceiling with acoustic tiles. Wall decoration and light fittings including central chandelier all complete. The ceiling has triple friezes which go right round, so the screen is framed partly by them and by decorated jambs, i.e. there is no proscenium arch.

A remarkably complete and never divided cinema in the rare Egyptian idiom.

Listing NGR: SJ7839092113