Survey Data
Reg No
40303019
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Social
Previous Name
Excel Cinema
Original Use
Cinema
Date
1940 - 1945
Coordinates
267604, 296721
Date Recorded
01/08/2012
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached gable-fronted five-bay two-storey cinema, built 1944, with double-height auditorium to rear. Closed, 1968. Now disused. Corrugated roof behind stepped and curved gable parapet with concrete coping, having curved top and concave sides terminated in projecting blocks with pyramidal caps. Galvanised metal rainwater goods to sides. Smooth rendered walls to front, roughcast rendered walls to sides. Blind oculus to apex of gable over large round-headed centre window flanked by smaller square-headed opening with oculi in outer bays. Pairs of square-headed windows flanking central entrance at ground floor, all windows boarded up. Replacement multiple panelled timber double-leaf door with blocked side lights. Opens directly on to street. Timber sheeted gate to side.
Appraisal
A fine example of mid twentieth-century cinema architecture, influenced by Art Deco, and retaining much of its traditional form and character. The curve and stepped gable front and variety of window openings are twentieth-century features which add to the architectural diversity and richness to the streetscape. The building is of considerable social heritage interest, standing as a physical record of the period before the arrival of television, when every sizeable town in the country had a cinema, which was an important social venue in a period of rapid social change. Similar to the Pallas Cinema in Belturbet, the building is an interesting twentieth century addition to the town's architectural heritage.