Recognise this cinema? No? It was The Crouch End Hippodrome, a theatre turned cinema which was closed after a major fire in 1942. Ever since, Crouch Enders have had to travel to see a film but, on Friday 27 November, a new cinema, The Crouch End Picture House, will open on this historic site, just a few doors away from another newcomer, the Art House.
The history of the Hippodrome as a theatre is a fascinating story in itself which I will explore in another blog but here’s the story of the site in relation to cinema as told by http://www.screendaily.com/
The site for Crouch End Picturehouse has a history as a cinema despite being used as an office building and warehouse for many decades. In 1911 the Picturehouse Cinema opened at 165 Tottenham Lane, renamed in 1925 as the Perfect Picture House. In 1929 the building was refurbished, new sound equipment installed and the cinema reopened as the Plaza Cinema. Closed at the outbreak of war, the Plaza was badly damaged in an air-raid in 1942and demolished soon after.
Rosebery House was built on the site in the late 1950s, and this is the building, which forms the basis of Crouch End Picturehouse. It is the only surviving example of 1950s-60s Modernism in the area, and for this reason aspects of the Modernist ethos have been incorporated into the refurbishment.
The Picturehouse website tells us:
Crouch End Picturehouse is a new four-screen cinema by Panter Hudspith Architects and will open its doors to the public on Friday 27 November. The opening films at the new local community cinema include Todd Haynes’s Carol starring Cate Blanchett, and Steven Spielberg’s Cold War thriller Bridge Of Spies starring Tom Hanks.The Picturehouse includes a ground-floor café and first-floor restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner from a menu by award-winning chef Mathew Weaving that includes sustainably sourced fish, and meat from local favourite Muddy Boots. Diners can enjoy a 50% discount on all food in the opening week.
Subscribe to our blog
