Windmill Cinema

Windmill Cinema

This cinema opened in 1908 on Marine Parade in Great Yarmouth. It was designed by architect Arthur S Hewitt and built of gault brick with a buff terracotta-clad main east-facing façade and slate roof. The roofs of the towers are covered in copper.

The neo-Baroque main east-facing elevation is composed of three bays. The central gabled bay bears the date 1908 and is recessed behind two outer towers, while the lower half projects forward beneath a balustraded balcony. The towers are three-storeys tall with square ogee domed roofs covered in green copper fish scales and topped with glass globe finials. They feature rusticated pilasters at the corners, and at the upper stage each has bulls eye windows to the front and sides with ornate detailing. Between the third and second storeys is a modillioned cornice and frieze supported by Ionic capitals. The pilasters frame cartouches to the front and sides, while the first stage contains full-height moulded arches—blind to the sides but framing portals to the front that flank the larger central arched entrance. A modern entrance structure now conceals the lower half of these features. The main body of the building behind this façade extends fourteen bays, separated by pilasters. Below a nail tooth cornice are lunettes, with a Diocletian window at the east end lighting the stairs, and regularly spaced arched openings at ground floor level.

The interior features an entrance lobby with a terrazzo floor, partly concealed by steps and platform flanking stairs to the balcony. The staircases have ornate finials and cast iron balustrades; the dogleg stairs access the balcony, now screened from the main auditorium. The ceiling displays Rococo-style plasterwork with highly decorated coffering, side panels containing cartouches, and central panels formed from a chequered pattern of slats. The proscenium arch is adorned with palmette decorative motifs around its perimeter and a cartouche at centre.

The building was originally constructed as the Gem, intended for wild animal exhibition, but following local objections from residents and boarding house owners, it was converted to a cinema before opening on 4 July 1908. It was managed by Charles B Cochran and initially operated continuous film shows from 11 am to 11 pm, with male and female audiences segregated on either side of a long, plain auditorium. A photograph from May 1909 shows the interior was then a single open space with steel roof trusses, no balcony, and no decorative detail. The present interior results from later restructuring, likely following the Cinematograph Act of 1910, which required improvements to audience safety and comfort, including the provision of lavatories (which survive in their original first-floor position). The entire main façade was originally illuminated at night by 1,500 light bulbs. The sails were added to the centre of the main façade when the cinema was renamed the Windmill in 1948. Further alterations include a single-storey brick entrance foyer, loss of stained glass to the central window, and replacement glass in the upper tower windows. Films and live performances continued through the 1960s and 1970s, but the main auditorium is now used as an adventure play area.