10 to 12 Pilgrim Street, Tyneside Cinema

he cinema is concealed down side elevation, and reached through glazed doors. The small entrance foyer has elaborate fibrous plaster Art Deco mouldings on ceiling, cornices and on pilasters surrounding stairwell. Staircase balustrades in similar style. Similar decoration up to second floor level with the same balustrades continuing to third floor. Triple-shouldered arches over entrances to stairs and stairwell apertures. Rectangular double-level auditorium arranged as stalls and balcony. Stalls in semi-basement entered by stairs from foyer, balcony approached from first floor. Straight balcony front, with acoustic fluted decoration. Balcony extends as `legs' to meet proscenium wall. Proscenium of superimposed mouldings with rounded profiles interrupted at sides by three relief bands decorated with rosettes. Side splays embellished with vertical Art Deco panels of pierced fibrous plaster standing on plinths with bands of scrolling Acanthus containing rosettes, below which are dwarf balconies (these may originally have been designed as giant jardinieres, ie. intended for plants) with metal balustrades designed in the form of interlaced circles. Horizontal banding on walls. Square lighting cove in main ceiling; fibrous plaster panels in subsidiary ceilings at sides. Two columns in rear balcony with dish uplighter sconces ultimately derived from the Grosses Schauspielhaus, Berlin, of 1919 by Hans Poelzig. Back wall of balcony inset with sound absorbent panels. Three fibrous plaster panels in rear of balcony soffit.

Cafe on second floor above auditorium with Art Deco pilasters and entrance corridor with sumptuous cornice and ceiling decoration. Second auditorium created in roof space above cafe of no decorative interest.

ANALYSIS: The news cinema was a type of cinema particularly popular in the late 1930s, where newsreels, topical interest films and cartoons were shown. They formed an invaluable function in disseminating information in the days before television, and these small halls became a feature of major city centres and principal railway stations. Few survive in any form. This is the finest surviving purpose-built newsreel cinema in Britain, incorporating a rare example of a fine cinema cafe. LISTED GRADE 2