Picturedrome

This cinema was originally built as community assembly rooms in 1886 and used for various local functions and entertainment before being converted to full cinema use in 1919. It is a two-storey brick building with a gabled tile roof and a prominent octagonal tower on the facade. The building was designed by local architect Arthur Smith.

Construction and Materials

The building is constructed of red brick laid in Flemish bond, with rough cement rendering applied to the first-floor side bays, the middle section of the octagonal tower, and the external projection room at the south end. The front glass canopy is supported by iron columns with decorative braces. The roofs are tiled.

Plan and Layout

The plan is based around the auditorium. An entrance at the east side opens to a foyer with a pay desk and refreshment kiosk. Offices lie to the south side of the foyer, with stairs to the north. The first floor was previously accessed by a separate door beside the main entrance, with the stairs separated from the foyer by a wall, creating completely separate access to the upper level. The entrance from the foyer is in the east wall of the auditorium, which is aligned north-south with the proscenium of 1911 at the north end. On the west wall is a room with a fireplace which appears to have been an earlier dressing room. In the south-east corner of the auditorium is an exit leading to the exterior via the 1919 pay box. The first floor contains a smaller auditorium and the 1919 projection room.

Exterior

The facade is dominated by the octagonal lantern tower with its tiled roof. The original revolving top section remains intact, although the mechanism no longer survives. The tower has three full-length arched sash windows and forms the centre of a symmetrical facade flanked by a two-storey brick range with balustraded parapet. The original coloured glass canopy in decorative iron scrollwork, emblazoned with the Picturedrome sign, occupies the centre of the facade. Windows in the central projecting bays are small-pane sashes; the lintels of those on the ground floor have shouldered flat arches, while those on the first floor have round arches with a central keystone. In the side bays there is a mixture of window styles, with some having been boarded over. The rear elevation has a number of accretions, some later service additions, and an extension with catslide roof which served as a dressing room. The north side elevation at ground floor formerly housed the cinema cafe and has now been modified during use as 'Rick's Cafe', but the first floor, which is Screen 2, retains its original sash windows. At the south elevation is a plain squat tower which was the 1911 external projection room.

Interior

The interior retains much of the original fabric, with alterations illustrating the building's development. The lobby has been somewhat altered to accommodate a new pay desk and food kiosk, requiring removal of a wall which divided the entrance from the stairs. The ceiling timbers, including the boxed-in spine beams, may be original. The panel doors leading to the auditorium and most other internal doors are original. The auditorium has a barrel-vaulted ceiling with circular moulding dating from 1911, with supporting arches which probably date to 1954. Pilasters on the wall form part of the blind arcade decoration. The proscenium of 1911 survives, flanked by boxes dating to 1919 with ornate broken pediments. Similar broken pediments are set above the main entrance and exit doors, with moulded decoration on the wall above. A pay box dating to 1919 still stands at the corner of the auditorium. At the north end of the building is 'Rick's Cafe', previously the cinema cafe, which retains much original fabric including stairs to the first-floor function room. The stairs from the foyer to the first floor are in original condition with ornate metalwork balusters to one side. The first-floor function room has been remodelled to provide an extra screen (Screen 2), but wall decoration in the form of pilasters, moulding and blind arcading is original. On the first floor are toilets and the 1919 projection room, both updated for modern use.

History

The Picturedrome opened in May 1886 as the New Assembly Rooms. At that time it was used for a variety of community activities including shows, dancing, roller-skating, and was also hired out to travelling film showmen. The main features of the early building were a principal ground-floor hall and a smaller one on the first floor. The most notable feature is the octagonal lantern tower, which housed a revolving light operated by a bicycle-type mechanism (this no longer survives). In 1911 the owners, WH Lorden and Sons, lowered the ceiling to improve the acoustics and built a customised projection room on the outside of the building. The Assembly Rooms was renamed the Queens Hall and had a capacity of 700.

During the First World War it was used as a drill hall. The building was converted into a permanent cinema in 1919 by a new owner, Peter D Stoneham, an Eastbourne architect and businessman who already owned another successful Picturedome in Worthing which he had built in 1913. The cinema was then renamed the Picturedrome. In the conversion to a cinema, a glass canopy supported on columns was installed at the entrance, the position of the screen was reversed, and a new side entrance and paybox was established in the corner of the auditorium. Additionally, the floor was raised as a slope, new seats and improved ventilation were installed, four boxes were built at the rear of the auditorium to the side of the old proscenium arch, a new projection box was built inside the original proscenium, and a tea room created on the ground floor. The Picturedrome competed with the Pier Theatre, but this situation was resolved in 1922 when both establishments became united under the ownership of MW Shanly and A Carter as the Bognor Pier Company. By 1930 both the Picturedrome and the Pier Cinema had been equipped with Western Electric Sound. Just after the Second World War, control of the Picturedrome passed to the Manchester-based Buxton Theatre Circuit and was later leased out. In April 1954 the interior was damaged by fire and, as this was the era of wide screen, it was decided to almost double the width of the proscenium arch to take a Cinemascope screen. The auditorium was redecorated and refurbished, and it is probable that the present ceiling braces date to this period.

In 1959 the Picturedrome was taken over by Drummer Theatres (Bognor Regis) Ltd, then in 1962 by John Robertson, a cinema owner from Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire. The cinema now had 533 seats, and the small upstairs hall, which had been used for whist drives and dances, was used for bingo. When John Robertson died in 1975 the lease was inherited by his son. By 1980, now with a reduced 522 seats, the Picturedrome was the only full-time cinema left in Bognor Regis. In 1983 Robertson sold the cinema, now reduced to 472 seats, to the Cannon Classic circuit and it was soon renamed the Classic. The cinema was now modernised: a second screen was added in place of the first-floor bingo hall with a new false ceiling added to meet the arches on the side walls. This second screen seated 96 and was opened in August 1984. Other changes were made to the main building including restoration of the previously boarded-up tower, installation of Dolby stereo, and plans to open the boxes to either side of the original proscenium. The old Picturedrome name was left in coloured glass on the canopy over the front entrance. In 1996 Virgin, who had taken over the Canon/MGM circuit, sold it to ABC, but in November of the same year it was acquired by Picturedrome Theatres Ltd and reverted to its original name. Finally in 2003 it was bought by Reeltime Cinemas Ltd.