Elswick, Westmorland Road, Congregational Church (Savoy)

HER Number:
12889

District:
Newcastle

Site Name:
Elswick, Westmorland Road, Congregational Church (Savoy)

Place:
Elswick

Map Sheet:
NZ26SW

Class:
Religious Ritual and Funerary

Site Type: Broad:
Nonconformist Chapel

Site Type: Specific:
Congregational Chapel

General Period:
Early Modern

Specific Period:
C19

Form of Evidence:
Demolished Building

Description:
Beech Grove Congregational Church was built in 1896. S.J. Stephenson, architect, drew up plans to convert the church into a cinema in February 1932. The two spites were shortened and the Westmorland Road frontage hidden behind stucco. The owner was H.T. Smelt who owned the Plaza on Westgate Road. The cinema had 791 seats. The interior décor was by Fred A. Foster of Nottingham in the 'Spanish hacienda' style with trailing vines and bunches of grapes. In 1948 the Savoy became part of the Essoldo circuit and was allowed to decline. A freak storm damaged the roof in December 1965 and a fire broke out in a store room in May 1966. The Savoy closed. It reopened in October 1969 as a bingo club. Demolished in 1997.

Easting:
2321

Northing:
6358

Grid Reference:
NZ23216358

Lats/Lons:

Sources:
Frank Manders, 1991, Cinemas of Newcastle, pages 157-158; Frank Manders, 2005, Cinemas of Newcastle, pages 92-93, 115, 161; Peter F Ryder, 2012, Nonconformist Chapels and Meeting Houses in Newcastle and North Tyneside, a survey