Norwich Cinema City
Encyclopedia
Cinema City is an art film
or art house cinema in the city of Norwich
in Norfolk
, England. It is managed and booked by City Screen Limited which operates a national chain of 'art house' cinemas, called Picturehouse.
Suckling Hall was last used as a residence in 1915. It was bought by the Norfolk News Company in 1916 who made some repairs before selling it to Ethel Mary and Helen Caroline Colman in 1923. They restored it and added Stuart Hall, intended as a public hall with a capacity of around 450 people fitted with a cinema projector and screen. In 1925 they presented Suckling House and the new hall to the City of Norwich to be used for "the advancement of education in its widest and most comprehensive sense".
Cinema City first opened in the buildings in April 1978 as a cinema seating 230. Renovations took place in 1981 including a new projection box, stairs and box office. The Great Hall became a bar and the vaulted bay nearest the hall was turned into a kitchen.
in 2004 while its original premises were rebuilt as a three-screen cinema, which reopened in 2007.
Screen One, with just under 200 seats, is on the first floor, equipped with both digital and 35mm projectors. Screen Two has just under 100 seats, and Screen Three just over 60. A couple of metres were dug down to create space for the new auditoria, which have their screens backing onto St Andrews Street. There is a new lobby at this level, in a Seventeenth Century panelled room. The courtyard now has a glass canopy, and the adjacent fourteenth-century vaulted rooms, the oldest part of the building, have been opened to the public for the first time, to form new dining areas.
Art film
An art film is the result of filmmaking which is typically a serious, independent film aimed at a niche market rather than a mass market audience...
or art house cinema in the city of Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...
in Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...
, England. It is managed and booked by City Screen Limited which operates a national chain of 'art house' cinemas, called Picturehouse.
History
The cinema occupies Suckling House, a partly-medieval merchant's house in St Andrews Street, named after the Suckling family who owned it in the sixteenth century. The oldest surviving parts of the building are from the early fourteenth century. The front of the house in St Andrew's Hill dates from an eighteenth century renovation. A brick building, known as Stuart Hall was added on the east side in 1925.Suckling Hall was last used as a residence in 1915. It was bought by the Norfolk News Company in 1916 who made some repairs before selling it to Ethel Mary and Helen Caroline Colman in 1923. They restored it and added Stuart Hall, intended as a public hall with a capacity of around 450 people fitted with a cinema projector and screen. In 1925 they presented Suckling House and the new hall to the City of Norwich to be used for "the advancement of education in its widest and most comprehensive sense".
Cinema City first opened in the buildings in April 1978 as a cinema seating 230. Renovations took place in 1981 including a new projection box, stairs and box office. The Great Hall became a bar and the vaulted bay nearest the hall was turned into a kitchen.
The present cinema
The cinema moved temporarily to the Norwich PlayhouseNorwich Playhouse
The Norwich Playhouse is a theatre in St George's Street, Norwich, Norfolk, England. It opened in 1995 in a nineteenth century building that was once a maltings, and is a venue for theatre, comedy, music and other performing arts. It seats 300. It has as its patron actor and comedian Stephen...
in 2004 while its original premises were rebuilt as a three-screen cinema, which reopened in 2007.
Screen One, with just under 200 seats, is on the first floor, equipped with both digital and 35mm projectors. Screen Two has just under 100 seats, and Screen Three just over 60. A couple of metres were dug down to create space for the new auditoria, which have their screens backing onto St Andrews Street. There is a new lobby at this level, in a Seventeenth Century panelled room. The courtyard now has a glass canopy, and the adjacent fourteenth-century vaulted rooms, the oldest part of the building, have been opened to the public for the first time, to form new dining areas.
External links
- http://www.cinemacity.co.uk/
- http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/
- http://www.norwichplayhouse.co.uk/
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/norfolk/films/cinema_city.shtml