[73480] York : St George's Hall Cinema
St George's Hall Cinema (former), Castlegate, York, 1921.
Grade l listed.
St George's Hall Cinema. The facade of the cinema which was opened in 1921 and closed in 1965. It is a rare example of cinema architecture of the 1920s.
In 1919 a scheme was proposed to convert Fairfax House and this adjoining house into a cinema and dance hall. St George's Hall, as it became known, was part of a thriving movement of popular entertainment in York in the 1920s and, by 1925, they were proudly advertising the cinema as 'the largest, most comfortable and most up-to-date in York'. Four decades on and the cinema company was in financial trouble, eventually selling the building to the City Council. The dance hall on the first floor, however, was still in operation until 1980. In 1980 the then Chairman of the York Civic Trust wrote to the City Council asking if the Trust might take on the restoration of the building. A successful track-record of restoring other historic buildings proved decisive, although the process of acquisition was not without its problems.
[73480] York : St George's Hall Cinema
St George's Hall Cinema (former), Castlegate, York, 1921.
Grade l listed.
St George's Hall Cinema. The facade of the cinema which was opened in 1921 and closed in 1965. It is a rare example of cinema architecture of the 1920s.
In 1919 a scheme was proposed to convert Fairfax House and this adjoining house into a cinema and dance hall. St George's Hall, as it became known, was part of a thriving movement of popular entertainment in York in the 1920s and, by 1925, they were proudly advertising the cinema as 'the largest, most comfortable and most up-to-date in York'. Four decades on and the cinema company was in financial trouble, eventually selling the building to the City Council. The dance hall on the first floor, however, was still in operation until 1980. In 1980 the then Chairman of the York Civic Trust wrote to the City Council asking if the Trust might take on the restoration of the building. A successful track-record of restoring other historic buildings proved decisive, although the process of acquisition was not without its problems.