State Cinema

Cinema. Built in 1938 by F G M Chancellor for Frederick's Electric Theatres, the State Cinema is a particularly well-preserved example of the "super cinemas" popular in the late 1930s. The exterior is constructed of brown brick with a silver-painted roof covering, and features cream and black faience cladding on the main elevation. It takes the form of a massive quadrilateral, with west, east, and north sides emphasized by pilaster buttresses. The west elevation rises to a blind tower, incorporating bulb-nosed vertical strips of cream and black faience that end with a recessed frieze bearing the name "State" in large, squared capitals. Three shops are integrated into this front, which is punctuated by a main entrance with glazed doors featuring glazing bars at unequal intervals.

Inside, a large, steeply raked auditorium extends over an entrance lobby and two storeys of foyers. The lobby is circular and features a frieze moulded alternately concave and convex, a motif repeated throughout the building. Above this is a saucer dome with a light fitting composed of serpentine prisms. The glass throughout the building is frosted and reeded. Original features include a pay box fashioned from chrome, wood veneer, and glass, and a lower foyer with an asymmetrical terrazzo floor in pink, yellow, black, and white, along with ornamental radiator grilles and lettering over entrances and exits. A sweeping open-well stair with a brass handrail connects the lower and upper foyers, the latter of which features five scalloped segmental barrel vaults and large, fish-bellied hanging lights. Rounded terrazzo steps lead to the toilets. The auditorium, with seating for 2200, is comparatively simple, accessed via two vomitoria. The cinema retains nearly all of its original fittings, including an illuminated Compton Theatre Organ and automatic piano (the latter added later). The projection room houses original Simplex projectors and three Peerless Magnarc lamps (two now converted to Xenon), along with a sound system dating from 1976. A contemporary set of curtains is the only addition.

Remarkably, the State Cinema has never been subdivided and has been extensively used in film and television productions. This combination of a once-common, now unique, example of streamlined Moderne cinema makes it particularly significant.