The Capitol Cinema is located within the Radford suburb of Nottingham and opened on the 24th October 1936.
The architect was Reginald W.G. Cooper, who also designed the nearby Ilkeston Ritz which bares many design similarities. The cinema was built for the brilliantly named Invincible Cinemas circuit.
As was commonplace in this era the cinema was designed in the Art Deco style, with a classic fin type tower detail protruding above the entrance foyer. Internally, seating was provided at both stalls and circle levels. The auditorium was nicely detailed with ornate plasterworks on both the ceiling and flanking walls.
The Capitol closed as a cinema in 1968 and was converted into an independent bingo club, being redecorated in 1988. The bingo club closed in 2004 and the building was taken on by the Mount Zion Millennium City Church.
Unfortunately a lack of maintenance has meant the building is in a bit of a sorry state with water coming through the roof in multiple locations damaging the ceiling. Restoration works were started in late 2019 in conjunction with Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, but this seems to have not gotten very far prior to halting due to the pandemic with little evidence of any work having actually taken place.
It's unclear as to what future the place has at this stage, it certainly need some urgent works to prevent further deterioration.
Visited with chief of the East Mids @MotionlessMike on a soggy but enjoyable evening.
The Capitol as it appeared in 1964, with it's original signage still in situ.
Image taken from cinematreasures.org.
Externally the building is largely unaltered, the only changes are really to the signage. The original Capitol sign was replaced at some point, before being removed when the building was converted into the church.
The entrance foyer area had unfortunately been completed obliterated in the church conversion and was now nothing more than a featureless white room.
The cylindrical stair core and circle foyer area were much less altered, still retaining lighting and carpets that were presumably fitted during a circa 60's refurbishment.
The auditorium as it appeared during it's time as a bingo club.
Image taken from cinematreasures.org.
The circle was left pretty intact with the majority of the seating still being in situ. Unfortunately the bulk of the auditorium was painted a nasty combination of magnolia and matt white which means the plasterwork details are less pronounced than I assume they would have been under the original more curated colour scheme.
As is common place the stalls area floor was levelled out when converted to bingo usage, and a staircase was added to reach the circle.
The projection room is accessed from the roof, via a small enclosed area behind the fin. The projection room itself is a funny asymmetrical shape, with the usual ancillary rooms being located on either side, the removed circle seating being crammed into one of the rooms.
The later lettering from the fin was crammed into one of the rooms that leads to a roof access ladder, it seemed only sensible to drag these out for a photo opportunity.
The architect was Reginald W.G. Cooper, who also designed the nearby Ilkeston Ritz which bares many design similarities. The cinema was built for the brilliantly named Invincible Cinemas circuit.
As was commonplace in this era the cinema was designed in the Art Deco style, with a classic fin type tower detail protruding above the entrance foyer. Internally, seating was provided at both stalls and circle levels. The auditorium was nicely detailed with ornate plasterworks on both the ceiling and flanking walls.
The Capitol closed as a cinema in 1968 and was converted into an independent bingo club, being redecorated in 1988. The bingo club closed in 2004 and the building was taken on by the Mount Zion Millennium City Church.
Unfortunately a lack of maintenance has meant the building is in a bit of a sorry state with water coming through the roof in multiple locations damaging the ceiling. Restoration works were started in late 2019 in conjunction with Historic England and the National Lottery Heritage Fund, but this seems to have not gotten very far prior to halting due to the pandemic with little evidence of any work having actually taken place.
It's unclear as to what future the place has at this stage, it certainly need some urgent works to prevent further deterioration.
Visited with chief of the East Mids @MotionlessMike on a soggy but enjoyable evening.
The Capitol as it appeared in 1964, with it's original signage still in situ.
Image taken from cinematreasures.org.
Externally the building is largely unaltered, the only changes are really to the signage. The original Capitol sign was replaced at some point, before being removed when the building was converted into the church.
The entrance foyer area had unfortunately been completed obliterated in the church conversion and was now nothing more than a featureless white room.
The cylindrical stair core and circle foyer area were much less altered, still retaining lighting and carpets that were presumably fitted during a circa 60's refurbishment.
The auditorium as it appeared during it's time as a bingo club.
Image taken from cinematreasures.org.
The circle was left pretty intact with the majority of the seating still being in situ. Unfortunately the bulk of the auditorium was painted a nasty combination of magnolia and matt white which means the plasterwork details are less pronounced than I assume they would have been under the original more curated colour scheme.
As is common place the stalls area floor was levelled out when converted to bingo usage, and a staircase was added to reach the circle.
The projection room is accessed from the roof, via a small enclosed area behind the fin. The projection room itself is a funny asymmetrical shape, with the usual ancillary rooms being located on either side, the removed circle seating being crammed into one of the rooms.
The later lettering from the fin was crammed into one of the rooms that leads to a roof access ladder, it seemed only sensible to drag these out for a photo opportunity.
