Dreamland Cinema

This cinema and entertainment centre was built between 1933 and 1935 as part of John Henry Iles's Dreamland entertainment complex. The architects were JB Iles, Julian Leathart and WF Granger, with Walpole Champneys serving as interior consultant.

Construction and Layout

The building has a steel-framed structure clad in brown and pink brick with some concrete ornament. The entrance features travertine marble steps and wall panelling. The plan is L-shaped, with main entrances on the north side facing Margate beach. The seaward-facing frontage originally housed bars on the ground floor (now an amusement arcade) and a restaurant on the first floor. The main cinema entrance leads to a circular foyer, beyond which the auditorium runs east-west. At the time of inspection in 2007, the auditorium interior had been subdivided, with the ground floor used as a bingo hall and two smaller auditoria created above in the former circle. Below the cinema auditorium at lower ground floor level is the former amusement park entrance, with the former restaurant (now housing indoor amusements) beneath the western end of the auditorium.

Exterior

The principal sea-facing front features a tall, Expressionist-influenced brick tower with a projecting fin rising 80 feet (24.4 metres). The current lettering spelling DREAMLAND is a modern replacement; originally the lettering ran vertically along the fin in applied sans-serif letters bearing neon strips. To the east stands a tall brick cube with horizontal decorative bands above a screen of glass blocks. To the west is a lower rectangular section with a long picture window overlooking the sea, serving the restaurant. A long fascia strip runs at first floor level. The ground floor front, now occupied by an amusement arcade, has been stripped out.

The principal entrance to the east is reached via travertine steps with coloured borders. The eastern return elevation is faced in travertine at the lower level and consists largely of plain brick wall above. The descending approach to the amusement park runs under the flank of the cinema auditorium, marked by tall vertical panels above. The side and rear elevations of the cinema become progressively plainer. Attached to the south-western end are remnants of the Dreamland ballroom, constructed of misfired brick and corrugated iron with a steel trussed structure inside. These remnants are not considered to possess the special interest of the cinema building.

Interior

The interior has undergone subdivision and alteration but retains considerable amounts of significant fabric. The internal decoration is stylistically consistent, executed in an Art Deco-influenced version of archaic Greek ornament, and is of very high quality for a cinema.

The entrance corridor is paved with travertine and retains a moulded cornice and matching notice boards. Along the west wall is the entrance to the former cafe. The corridor leads to a spectacular double-height, top-lit circular foyer. At the centre stands an octagonal wooden desk of oak with sloping stepped sides. The balcony and ceiling soffits are decorated with a stylised Greek meander pattern in gold and deep blue. Around the balcony wall are reliefs of a piping rider on horseback, designed by sculptor Lawrence Bradshaw. An Art Deco bronze lantern hangs from the ceiling.

The staircase to the south-west retains bronze handrails, and there is a coved cornice at its upper level around the central column. The first floor former balcony foyer is decorated in matching style, with projecting half-columns carrying a coffered roof, around which runs a frieze with incised grooves.

The upper auditoria occupying the former stalls are plain and presently subdivided. Below, the lower part of the original auditorium survives largely intact, having been used in recent years for bingo. The proscenium arch has a coffered ceiling above and is flanked by doorcases to each side. These feature stylized Ionic columns in the Minoan manner, carrying entablatures on which stand mythological bronzed plaster figures including Pan. These figures, and other relief figures in the auditorium, were designed by celebrated Art Deco sculptor Eric Aumonier (died 1974). In front of the stage is a rising Compton Waterman organ with a blue and gold outer case.

The former cafe on the first floor front, now a Chinese restaurant, has been extensively remodelled. There is no trace of the 40-foot (12.2-metre) mural of a sea serpent by Walpole Champneys, recorded as being on the east wall of this room over the bar (illustrated in Building, June 1934). Nothing remains of the saloon bar and public bar which formerly occupied the ground floor of the northern front.

The former restaurant on the lower ground floor west of the amusement park entrance retains its decorated roof in the Minoan manner, with distinctive octagonal panels, a frieze, and ribbed mouldings. The upper ceiling features reliefs of flying ducks.

The derelict former ballroom attached to the rear of the cinema is not regarded as of special interest. Its steel roof trusses bear the stencil of H. Young & Co, engineers of Nine Elms, London.

Historical Context

This site was first used for commercial entertainment in 1867 when the Hall by the Sea opened for commercial catering. The first film was shown here in 1912. In 1919 the site, by now highly successful and forming an integral part of one of Southern England's major seaside resorts, was acquired by John Henry Iles. Strongly influenced by American approaches to popular entertainment, he renamed the site Dreamland (the very name was taken from a Coney Island attraction) on its reopening in 1920, drawing some 1.5 million visitors during the first year of operation. The listed Scenic Railway dates from this time.

A new cinema opened in a converted ballroom in 1923, but plans for a new cinema and restaurant were drawn up in the early 1930s. Iles's son, John Bird Iles, in partnership with the established architectural practice of Leathart & Granger, was responsible for the design. Leathart & Granger are thought to have been mainly in charge, with Walpole Champneys overseeing coordination of the interior decoration. The restaurant could seat 500 and the cinema's capacity was 2,050.

Strongly influenced by German cinema design (such as the Titania-Palast, Berlin by Schoffler, Schlonbach and Jacobi of 1928), this was the earliest Art Deco cinema in an Expressionist-influenced brick idiom and proved influential on the subsequent design of the Odeon chain of cinemas.

The decorative artists were respected figures in their day. Aumonier is best known for the reliefs in the foyer of the former Daily Express building on Fleet Street and for archer statues at East Finchley underground station, and also worked with Leathart & Granger at East Sheen cinema. Laurence Bradshaw also worked for London Transport and later modelled the bust of Karl Marx at Highgate Cemetery. In decorative terms, the interior displays the influence of Minoan sources, then very much in vogue following Sir Arthur Evans's publications of the palace of Minos at Knossos, Crete.

Iles was bankrupted in 1938. In 1940 Dreamland was used to receive evacuated troops from Dunkirk. Dreamland continued to be a successful enterprise into the 1970s and was also used as a concert venue. In 1973 the cinema was subdivided and reopened as two small screens each seating 350, with a large bingo hall beneath. The cinema closed in 2007.

Significance

Dreamland Cinema is listed at Grade II* as an early example of the influence of German cinema design, sporting both Expressionist and Art Deco influences. The tower is a particularly effective design and proved influential on the design of Odeon cinemas. The internal embellishment by Eric Aumonier and Laurence Bradshaw is of consistently high quality, and the overall decorative treatment, overseen by Walpole Champneys, is a very unusual essay in an Art Deco version of archaic Greek or Minoan style. This cinema retains notable bespoke sculpture, which is relatively unusual. Dreamland forms a very important part of Margate, one of Britain's oldest and most important seaside resorts. It is the most important addition to the town of the 20th century and brought a very successful Art Deco note to the Georgian and Victorian seafront. Dreamland Cinema is closely linked with the listed and notable Scenic Railway, forming part of a very significant entertainment complex rivalled only by Blackpool Pleasure Beach.