Windmill Theatre - Blue Plaque reads:
Architect Arthur S. Hewitt.
WINDMILL THEATRE 1908.
Opened as the GEM
The 3rd Picture Palace in Great Britain,
women and men were segregated.
1947 Renamed the Windmill by JACK JAY
G.Y.L.H. & A.S.
Great Yarmouth Local History & Archaeological Society.
"This is one of the United Kingdom’s earliest cinema buildings. It is thought it was intended to be a menagerie for displaying wild animals when first built. But it opened as a cinema known as the Gem Theatre on 4th July 1908 with the proviso that men and women sat seperately on each side of the auditorium!" Text Source: (
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"Currently the Theatre is in use as an Amusement Arcade and miniature Golf Course, and although the building is Grade II* Listed much of its internal decoration is hidden by false walls and hangings.
The Theatre was designed by Arthur S. Hewitt, who also designed the Empire Theatre in the town the same year. The Windmill was built for C.B. Cochran and opened on the 4th of July 1908 with the odd proviso that men and women had to sit on opposite sides of the auditorium. Text Source: (
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"Cinema; opened 1908; designed by Arthur S Hewitt; built of gault brick, its main east facing façade clad in buff terracotta with a slate roof; roofs to towers covered in copper. The main east facing elevation is of three bays, the main body of the building behind the façade is of fourteen bays.
EXTERIOR:
The neo-Baroque main east facing elevation is of three bays, the upper half of the gabled central bay bearing the date, 1908, recessed behind two outer towers, the lower half projecting forward below a balustraded balcony. The towers have square ogee domed roofs with green copper fish scale covering and glass globe finials. The towers are of three stages and have rusticated pilasters at the corners, between which at the upper stage of each are bulls eye windows to front and sides, those to the front with ornate detailing. Between the third and second stage is a modillioned cornice and frieze supported by Ionic capitals. At this height the pilasters frame cartouches to front and sides, while the first stage contains full height moulded arches, blind to the sides of the towers, but framing portals to the front that flank the larger central arched entrance. The lower half of these features is concealed behind a modern entrance. The fourteen bays that form the main body of the building behind the façade are separated by pilasters. Below a nail tooth cornice are lunettes, that at the east end contain a Diocletian window, lighting the stairs, and there are regularly spaced arched openings to the ground floor.
INTERIOR:
The entrance lobby has a terrazzo floor, part of which is concealed under the steps and platform which are flanked by the stairs to the balcony. The staircases have ornate finials and cast iron balustrades. The dogleg stairs give access to the balcony, which is now screened off from the main body of the auditorium. The Rococo style plasterwork to the ceiling consists of highly decorated coffering, side panels containing cartouches, and central panels formed from a chequered pattern of slats. The proscenium arch has a palmette decorative motif all round, and a cartouche at the centre.
HISTORY:
Great Yarmouth began its development as a resort in the first half of the C19. The first resort building, The Royal Hotel, was constructed in 1840 (Grade II). The Victoria Building Company, established in 1841, intended to develop the South Beach area but only the Brandon and Kimberly Terraces (1841) and Victoria Hotel (1842) were constructed in a derivative Regency style. As the resort developed, terraced housing and two piers were constructed; Wellington Pier in 1853 and to the north Britannia Pier in 1857. In the late Victorian and Edwardian period, in addition to terraced housing, a range of entertainment structures were erected along Marine Parade, including an aquarium, the Winter Gardens and two cinemas. The development of the resort was led by the Borough Council at this time, in particular by the Borough Surveyor, J. W. Cockrill (1849-1924) who also designed five listed buildings in Great Yarmouth and Gorleston. Text Source: (
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Physical Address:
Windmill Cinema
S Beach Place,
Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, Great Britain.
NR30 3AG