ELECTRIC PALACE CINEMA
ELECTRIC PALACE CINEMA, KING'S QUAY STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1204934
- Date first listed:
- 18-Sep-1972
- List Entry Name:
- ELECTRIC PALACE CINEMA
- Statutory Address:
- ELECTRIC PALACE CINEMA, KING'S QUAY STREET
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2006-04-19
- Reference:
- IOE01/14964/27
- Rights:
- © Mr Wilfred N. Winder. Source: Historic England Archive
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Find PhotosOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1204934
- Date first listed:
- 18-Sep-1972
- List Entry Name:
- ELECTRIC PALACE CINEMA
- Statutory Address 1:
- ELECTRIC PALACE CINEMA, KING'S QUAY STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- ELECTRIC PALACE CINEMA, KING'S QUAY STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Essex
- District:
- Tendring (District Authority)
- Parish:
- Harwich
- National Grid Reference:
- TM 26132 32673
Details
TM2632NW HARWICH KING'S QUAY STREET
(North-East side)
609-1/12/86 Electric Palace Cinema
18/09/1972
GV II*
Cinema constructed in 1911 for Charles Thurston, the East Anglian travelling showman. Architect: Harold Ridley Hooper of Ipswich. Brick with Welsh slate gabled roof with three metal ridge-line ventilators. Front of Roman cement. Auditorium without balcony entered via small foyer.
EXTERIOR: The front has a raised centre part and low wings. Semi-circular central winged dentil pediment with convex circular date panel amid a cartouche of strapwork and drapery. There is a solid balustrade either side and a long horizontal panel with 'ELECTRIC PALACE' in serif letters. Below this is a cornicewith paired dentils. Wide recessed opening with flanking pilasters and a frieze with a moulded motif of fruiting swags, drops, ribbons and a central laurel wreath. The low wings have rusticated bands with, above plaster panels, small-pane double-hung sash windows. Above are painted timber balustrades with circular motifs of Mackmurdo-like character.
INTERIOR: Centrally positioned inside the entrance porch is a five-sided kiosk and elaborate twin entrance doors with eared architraves, pulvinated friezes and winged segmental pediments with shell motif. Auditorium with a plaster barrel fielded ceiling with ventilation roundels. Elaborate proscenium and side walls with plaster-framed panels over a dado. Twin exit doors flanking the proscenium. Shallow stage. Projection room over the entrance.
ANALYSIS: The Electric Palace is a rare survival from the early days of purpose-built cinemas following the introduction of the Cinematograph Act in 1910. It had a period of closure from 1956 to 1972 -when the cinema was 'rediscovered' and reopened by a charitable trust. Miraculously, it escaped demolition after closure in 1956 and the subsequent sixteen-year interregnum prevented drastic alterations.
SOURCE
Chris Strachan, Harwich Electric Palace, publisher: Chris Strachan, Harwich 1979.
David Atwell, Cathedrals of the Movies, The Architectural Press, London 1980, pages 27 -29 and 186.
Richard Gray, Cinemas in Britain, Lund Humphries, London, 1996, pages 23-24 and 134-5.
Listing NGR: TM2613232673
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 366562
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Atwell, D, Cathedral of the Movies: A History of British Cinemas and their Audiences, (1980), 27-29, 186
Gray, R, Cinemas in Britain: One Hundred Years of Cinema Architecture, (1996), 23-24, 134
Strachan, C, Harwich Electric Palace, (1979)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 22-Apr-2025 at 16:59:51.
Download a full scale map (PDF)© Crown copyright [and database rights] 2025. OS AC0000815036. All rights reserved. Ordnance Survey Licence number 100024900.© British Crown and SeaZone Solutions Limited 2025. All rights reserved. Licence number 102006.006.
End of official list entry
