Coronet Cinema

The following building shall be added. TQ 25/80 SW NOTTING HILL GATE HilL GATE 25/80 CORONET CINEMA II

Theatre, now cinema. 1898 by WGR Sprague Painted once rendered stone, roof not seen. Rectangular plan on corner site, this expressed externally and internally. Facade of three and four storeys dominated by tall corner cupola with enraged ionic columns on heavy console brackets. Entrance under. Giant order of fluted composite pilasters rises through two or three storeys above plain ground floor treated as a classical base denoted by deep balustraded band; order surmounted by delicate plaster frieze of swags under dentiled cornice and high balustraded parapet. Corner has three round-arched bays with decorative plasterwork in spandrels and tripartite windows under broken pediments. Symmetrical nine-bay elevation (of 4 storeys) to Notting Hill Gate, with three-bay pediments with cartouche decoration to each side and round-arched pediments over some second-floor windows. Three bay 3-storey elevation to Hillgate St with decorated pediment and broken pediments to first floor.

interior. Circular foyer under cupola leads to high auditoruim with two balconies. Large stage behind proscenium, with acanthus moulding and fluting under delicate rococo-style plasterwork. To each side segmental pediment with cartouches and wreathed composite columns formerly framed boxes. Further plasterwork on balcony fronts, the lower with fruity swags and putti, the upper restrained stylised wreaths. Pilasters to side walls in ascending sequence of Tuscan moulded Tuscan and Ionic. Stalls decorated with Vitruvian scroll and trophies, first floor with shell decoration; gallery retains original bench seating. Ceiling supported on heavy console brackets, its decoration a series of linked gilded wreathes with good 1930s light fittings.

Recommended as a rare surviving example of a London suburban theatre and opera house, and as the only intact suburban work by the important theatre architect theatre architect WGR Sprague.

The Builder 15 January 1898

Curtains: 1982

Survey of London, vol XXXVII, 1973, p.41

Listing NGR: TQ2514380389