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Gazetteer
Theatre and an adjoining "Annexe" in Boscawen Street. The
Town became City with the 20th Century build cathedral, the
first Church of England built cathedral since Wren's St Pauls
(rather a shame they went for a traditional gothic design -
progress?). Known as the County Theatre, a large and spacious
auditorium with stage facilities. Films were part of the
programme from at least the mid 1920s making the County the
only cinema in Cornwall to have Gas lighting (although electric
was also in use). Damaged by fire in 1924, the auditorium was
rebuilt.
For some reason only 658 seats were licenced for cinema (the
auditorium could hold 1050) and the operation was run by
Alexander Daniel James Corrison by 1926, having earlier been run
by Truro Skating Rinks Ltd, suggesting another use for this
building. By 1932 the name was changed to Regent and was ran
by George Rees of Bristol. The sound system was Western
Electric. The proscenium width was 23' and the stage 27' deep
and 5 dressing rooms. The programme mostly comprised live
shows but cinema shows were not uncommon. Plans of the
building dated 1949 show that the annexe was a sort of assembly
room with a flat floor and equipped with its own stage. There
was no suggestion that films were shown in the annexe.
On 10th December 1952 Truro City Council took over the theatre
and it continues as an entertainment centre today as Hall for
Cornwall. Recently the auditorium has been modernised. 35mm
films returned to the hall in the late 1990s when the Plaza was
closed. The first film being West Side Story on 21st September
1998.
Cornwall
website
Rooms, set on the first floor. The ground floor comprised a library and club rooms.
Operated from the early 1920s by Robert Thomas of Penzance. Rowland Clifford Hill
took over in 1934, from Hugh Richard Hill and continued to run the cinema into the
1970s. It was a great achievement to run a cinema for so long. Rowland Hill built up
a circuit of cinemas in Cornwall which he later leased out to Duchy Cinemas Ltd,
however the Palace always remained in his personal control.
large organ mounted at the centre of the stage. The seating capacity was 527: 443
on the main floor and 84 in the balcony. The first sound system was BA: British
Acoustic, later RCA. Bingo was introduced in the early 1970s and soon replaced
cinema. Recently the bingo operation closed and the building has been converted
into offices, reinstating the windows and restoring the exterior.
The Palace
1,176 seats with a circle by Sound & Movement Cinemas Co Ltd
(Gwyther Eastlake Prance and W Mumford). Subsequently Albert
Jackson Withers bought out the circuit for his Cornwall Circuit
Ltd. The proscenium was 34' wide, however the stage was only
7' deep. The sound system was Western Electric.
There were three dressing rooms, a cafe and dance hall shown
on the plans by an Australian architect called Smith, working for
William Henry Watkins, the noted Bristol cinema architect. In
the foyer was a central pay box, and built into the wall was a
glass display case used to advertise films or local businesses. On
the first floor was a large room probably used as a dance hall and
as a cafe, the ceiling of this room was cut out and, above this
room was a further eating area around the central double height
space so depending where you sat you could look up or down at
other diners at the upper or lower level all lit by the large double
height windows on the frontage. The auditorium was fairly
plain with patterns painted onto the side walls in typical art
deco style, the proscenium was also quite plane with concave
columns to either side that may have been lit. The tabs show
an abstract scene of birds flying from either rocks or bushes.
Having passed to Rank Organisation, the Plaza was leased by
Norman Whale in 1978 but was closed on 28th April 1997 by the
local authority following an inspection that found dangerous
electrics. However by this time the cinema was being operated
by receivers.
gutted the interior to create a 4-screen operation retaining the facade and cinema
name. Screen 1 has 300 seats and Dolby Digital, screen 2, 198, screen 3, 135 seats and
screen 4, 70 seats, all Dolby SR. The cinema reopened on 10th July 1998. The cinema
has been a great success after a slow start, keeping cinema in the county town.
