Duxford: Gymnasium, chapel and cinema

The building comprises a gymnasium, chapel, and cinema, constructed between 1940 and 1941 to designs by Frank Hawbest of the Air Ministry, with a cinema projection annex added around 1955.

The structure is composed of rectangular blocks arranged on a north-east to south-west axis, with the gymnasium block adjoined by the chapel to the north-east, and the projection room annex attached to the south-west gable. A toilet block is attached to the north-west elevation of the gymnasium (now acting as a cinema and gymnasium), alongside a changing and storage block to the south-east.

The gymnasium and chapel blocks are double-height, single-storey structures, with the cinema and gymnasium roof being higher than that of the chapel. The roofs are pitched and covered in corrugated asbestos, featuring vents relocated from the ridge in the late 20th or early 21st century. The projection room annex, along with the toilet and changing/storage blocks, have flat roofs. The walls are constructed of red brick and rendered. The front and rear elevations of the cinema and gymnasium are buttressed across nine bays. The cinema and gymnasium block features a band of steel-framed clerestory windows on its front and rear elevations. The chapel is five bays long, with slender steel-framed casement windows on the front and rear, and a single window on the north-east end. Double-leaf doors, marked with "ASTRA," are present on the front elevation of the changing/storage and toilet blocks. Emergency access is provided via double doors and steps from the north-west corner of the cinema auditorium. A staircase along the south-west elevation of the projection room annex leads to the first-floor projector room, above a ground-floor store.

The cinema's interior features a steel-framed fink truss roof supported by buttresses on the north-west and south-east walls. The auditorium is fitted with tiered seating (replaced in the late 20th or early 21st century) and a sloped floor leading to a stage and screen at the north-east end. A partition wall behind the screen separates the cinema from the gymnasium. Former changing and storage rooms within the gymnasium now serve as office and storage space for the cinema. Folding partition doors divide the gymnasium and chapel, likely installed around 1955 when the projection room annex was added and the gymnasium was divided. The chapel was subdivided in the 20th century, creating a chancel (where the congregation would sit in the gymnasium), a Roman Catholic chapel (at the north-east end), and a vestry. The gymnasium and chapel are currently used as storage rooms.