Paignton Picture House 03 March 2014

David Abel · Mar 3, 2014

This incredible Art Deco Building (circa 1907) and favourite of Agatha Christie, has been unused since 1999 when it closed after its last screening. This is (in all probability) the oldest purpose built cinema in the UK. It was originally know as the Paignton Bioscopic Exhibition Centre and would show short films (4-5 mins) accompanied by a 21 piece live orchestra. Men and women were allowed in to view the films at the same time but had to be seated by gender, Gentlemen on the right and Ladies on the left! Today the external structure is sound but the interior is slowly but surely being eroded by neglect and lack of a cohesive plan. Whilst there are ongoing ideas to restore the Picture House to its former status, the usual tale of woe apropos funding is evident. Entry is by escort only so a big thank you to Peter for taking the time to show us around.

Balcony2 by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

Cinema by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

Cistern by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

Ceiling by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

Decodoor by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

Exit Left by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

Film by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

Fixer by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

Lights by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

Old Soap by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

Projector by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

Projector1 by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

Splicing Bench2 by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

Spools by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

Vinyl by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

Vinyl2 by Aristotlemouse, on Flickr

This is our first post so please forgive any errors on our part...
David and Sarah.

krela · Mar 3, 2014

Eek so close to getting your pictures to show.

There are instructions on getting it to work on [ame="http://www.derelictplaces.co.uk/main/showthread.php?t=17009"]this thread...[/ame] I hope this helps!

Looking forward to seeing them.

cunningplan · Mar 3, 2014

And what a set of pics they are!! and what a stunning place as well

krela · Mar 3, 2014

There we go! Love that vaulted ceiling, thanks for sharing and welcome to the site!

UrbanX · Mar 3, 2014

Wow, what an intro! What a lovely building! You've done a really good job of lighting it too!
Looking forward to many more of these

flyboys90 · Mar 3, 2014

What an a amazing door,ace pics.

ashutchy · Mar 3, 2014

Stunning building, great pics. Thank you.

jmcjnr · Mar 3, 2014

What a start! Well done and thanks. Beauty of a site. Hope it doesn't go further downhill. Thanks. Jim.

smiler · Mar 3, 2014

An Absolutely Gorgeous Building, deserves saving, Great post, Loved It, Thanks

skankypants · Mar 3, 2014

Top job,,,,realy like this...

LittleOz · Mar 3, 2014

Very nice indeed, loved seeing the old records in there. Not heard of this place before so thanks for letting us all see it.

Stealthstar79 · Mar 3, 2014

Fab first post!
Great location and pics

Mars Lander · Mar 4, 2014

What an entrance !!! well done , this looks really nice!!!

AgentTintin · Mar 12, 2014

Nice to see a cinema that hasn't been converted into a Mecca bingo hall - very nice report!

odeon master · Mar 12, 2014

very interesting to see this, if this is the oldest cinema left, it must be followed by the scala cinema in Ilkeston Derbyshire, this little gem is still going to this day as a single screen cinema, and was built in 1912 so only just after this one.
Great to see your photos, looks like those projectors would still work fine, they look in good order, the large machine with the huge spools is whats known as a 'tower' this feeds the film into the projector, and it comes out the projector onto another spool back onto the tower machine and ends up when fully played back at the start again, so you dont need to rewind the film.
Odeons nearly allways used a 'cake stand' machine to do the same job, this had 3 large aluminium tables that the film spools sat on.

THE ODEON

projectionman · Jun 7, 2014

odeon master the tower system was a westrex tower and at the end of the film you did have to rewind the film to the beginning as you stated the cakestand used in many odeon cinemas the film didnt need rewinding
the projector here is a westrex 7000

projectionman · Jun 7, 2014

odeon master the tower system was a westrex tower and at the end of the film you did have to rewind the film to the beginning as you stated the cakestand used in many odeon cinemas the film didnt need rewinding
the projector here is a westrex 7000

djrich · Jun 8, 2014

Fantastic pics, great old place, I'd love to go through those 78s.

projectionman · Jun 9, 2014

fantastic cinema i worked in a 1920 built cinema for 18 years till it closed in 2004 the building is still there i was the chief projectionist

Paignton Picture House 03 March 2014

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