Northwick Cinema

WORCESTER

SO85NW OMBERSLEY ROAD 620-1/1/469 (East side) 31/01/84 Northwick Cinema

II

Cinema, now hall. 1936-1938 with later alterations. For Scala (Worcester) Limited. Architect C Edmund Wilford, with interior designed by John Alexander. Brick with concealed roof. Art Deco style. Two storeys, five bays, the outer two projecting and with slit windows. Central bay has projecting tower with 'Northwick' on a fin-like vertical sign the full height of the building. Ground floor has a flat cantilevered hood the full height of the building. INTERIOR: the principal feature is the group of over-life-size mythical figures, horses and chariots executed in fibrous plaster and flanking the proscenium arch. Small contemporary details such as light fittings and ashtrays. HISTORICAL NOTE: opened on 28 November 1938; closed as a cinema c1967. John Alexander trained in part at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and was a Director of the Newcastle firm of M Alexander and Sons. Alexander was responsible for the manufacturing process of the fibrous plasterwork as well as the design. The fibrous plaster groups flanking the proscenium arch was designed in 1936 and cost ,1,138. Eyles: 'highly evocative of the Thirties and cinema design at its most assured.' Atwell: John Alexander was unique in the area of cinema design.' Some of Alexander's drawings survive in the collection of the RIBA. It is believed to be the only surviving example of his work in a complete and unaltered form, although in parts it has been covered by a layer of (removable) paint. (RIBA Drawings Collection (for perspective drawings by Alexander) Cards 3404-5) (Picture House: Eyles A: Who Will Save The Northwick?: 1987-: 14-16; Atwell D: Cinema Perspectives of John Alexander, Exhibition Catalogue: 1987-: 1-4).