Ace Cinema

Cinema, 1936, by F E Bromige. The cinema is constructed of mass concrete and brick, with a flat asphalt roof. It has a tall, triple-bowed concrete frontage, with a very wide, central bowed projection. Convex, concave metal windows rise to full height within this projection. A flat, bowed concrete canopy extends across the front and above the entrance doors. Rising upwards from the entrance canopy is a significant concrete feature shaped like a stylised elephant’s trunk, with the curved "head" projecting in front of and above the bowed parapet.

The interior includes an oval-shaped entrance foyer, with steps and railings leading to a sunken tea-room in the centre, which features a cigar-shaped, coved plaster ceiling. The auditorium is characterized by a concrete horizontal fluted gallery front and inward-curving walls. It is dominated by a fibrous plaster ceiling with deep coved ribs that drive forward and downward towards the proscenium arch, which is flanked by fluted side columns.

The cinema is a remarkably individual design, noted for being the least altered late 1930s streamlined “art deco” cinema.