Crosshands Public Hall

Crosshands Public Hall

The Public Hall comprises three rendered blocks arranged in a line perpendicular to the street. The block nearest the street is the theatre, featuring a symmetrical two-storey Art Deco frontage with smooth rendered finish. The facade is slightly wider than the blocks behind and rises to a parapet that conceals the hip of the roof, with short returns at the sides.

The central focus of the frontage is the main entrance, consisting of slightly altered doors beneath a large reinforced-concrete canopy. The canopy front and sides are decorated with repeated fascia panels; the end panels are enlarged and decorated with lion heads, carrying globe lights mounted on short openwork metal posts. Above the canopy are triple clerestory windows set within a frame that also bears the words 'Public Hall' and a central motif. The name 'Cross Hands' appears on the parapet above.

Flanking the entrance on each side are giant pilaster motifs set against raised and slightly advancing sections of the facade. These sections are conspicuously divided into a plain upper storey and a rusticated lower storey. The lower angles of the upper storey feature small formalised half-acanthus decorations. The pilaster motifs are carried on bold corbel blocks positioned at the top of the lower storey, stepped out over narrow windows. The pilasters are styled to resemble torches, with the channelled stepped blocks on the windows forming the holders and the layered motifs breaking the skyline at parapet level representing flames.

The side windows of the frontage, clerestory windows, small windows beneath the torch-like pilasters, and glazed lights within and above the main doors are all fitted with standard steel glazing bars including margin lights, with all main panes divided diagonally into four.

The main theatre block is rendered with a slate roof topped with a tiled ridge and tiled front hips; the rear is gabled. Side windows are grouped in threes with a decorative arrangement of panes similar to the front. Low doors from the auditorium and higher doors from stage level are positioned at each side.

Behind the theatre is a symmetrical two-storey block of similar width containing community rooms. This block has five windows and a slightly lower slated roof with half-hip ends. Ground-storey doorways positioned nearest to the theatre are located at each side. Windows are fitted with standard steel frames containing nine panes, including an opening top-hung light at the foot. A smaller rendered, slate-roofed block with a fire escape ladder sits on the centre line at the rear.

The foyer is accessed through the central pair of doors, with outer doors serving as exits from the balcony. At the centre of the foyer stands an Art Deco style ticket cubicle with a hardwood-framed ticket window set within a decorative plaster surround carried down to form the upper of two plinths. The cubicle has chamfered corners with fluting and a deeply fluted crest running all round the top, with a central decorative motif. Symmetrical doors on each side lead to an inner foyer with a small bar at centre, from which further symmetrical doors lead into the auditorium. The doors throughout are typically two-panel design with the upper panel octagonal and glazed.

The auditorium features a raking floor and a laterally curved ceiling. A large reinforced-concrete balcony with a curved front merges into the side walls, with two very slender steel columns at the gallery rear. Three decorative motifs appear at the front of the balcony. The large proscenium features a ribbed frame consisting of a segmental top and straight sides on small plinths. The stage level was raised approximately 150mm during recent renovation. Exit double doors serving the main auditorium are located on each side within internal lobbies, which are topped with fluted parapets. Decorative motifs are positioned on the walls flanking the proscenium.

In the rear block, a lateral staircase runs at the back of the stage. The large room on the north side was formerly the library. A kitchen and toilets have been installed in the rear extending block.

Exit doors from the balcony sides at the rear lead to exit stairs, now fire-compartmented from the entrance lobby.