Grand/Casino

The former Grand cinema on Lord Street is a Grade II listed building dating from 1938. It represents a reconstruction by architect George E. Tonge FRIBA of Richard Woodhead's car showroom, which originally occupied the site in 1923. The building is notable as a rare surviving example of the conversion of one modern building type into another—in this case, from a commercial showroom to a cinema.

EXTERIOR

The building presents a symmetrical seven-bay facade in subdued classical style, faced entirely in faience. The bays are separated by panelled pilasters set on half-storey plinths and surmounted by plain capitals with bay leaf drops. The central three bays at ground level contain entrance doors beneath a canopy, while the remaining four bays are subdivided, with an exit door occupying half of the last left-hand bay. The upper storey is continuously glazed, with bow windows in the third and fifth bays, each divided into four lights. All upper lights contain stained glass. A continuous entablature runs across the facade, featuring a frieze with triglyphs positioned over the pilasters (excepting the second and seventh), enriched with swags and drop ornaments. The parapet rises prominently over the centre three bays and again over the middle bays, bearing the original lettering "GRAND". The return and rear walls are constructed of stock brick. The roof is not visible.

INTERIOR

The entrance foyer is broad and spacious, decorated in Moderne style with a series of fluted columns, one of which develops into a torchere. The ceiling is coffered with lighting coves. A flight of wide stairs with a central chromium balustrade in Moderne style and folding side walls ascends to a landing, then branches left and right into "tunnels". The tunnel ceilings feature simply ornamented fluted cornices, and the stairs are equipped with chromium handrails.

The large auditorium is of stadium type, meaning the rear seating is raised without a balcony. The proscenium verticals are decorated with horizontal fluting. The splay walls display four fibrous plaster bands of ornamented grills within enclosing mouldings, one of which formerly housed the organ (now removed). A border moulding extends back from the top of the proscenium across the ceiling. The reserve area behind this moulding is fluted and fitted with ventilation grilles near the top of the proscenium. Further back, above the rear seating, the ceiling develops into a circular feature with a suspended saucer dome supporting a central pendant light fitting. The dome is surrounded by ornamented roundels and stars. The streamlined styling of the auditorium is particularly dramatic and successful. The rake of the rear seating has been removed to create a flat surface for bingo tables. Simple horizontal mouldings run along the rear and side walls, though these are now partially obscured by later fabric draping. Access to the auditorium at lower level is through doorways encased in horizontal streamlined Moderne fluting. The stage is shallow.

The cafe formerly occupying the first floor above the entrance foyer has been subdivided into administrative offices for the bingo operation.

The building closed for cinema use in 1966. The large and relatively unaltered auditorium and foyer retain significant architectural interest as a representative example of 1930s Moderne cinema design.