Our third explore of three places around Wakefield this day, Wakefield ABC opened originally in December 1935 & was known as The Regal Cinema at that time. William R Glen designed the building, he was the main architect employed by Associated British Cinemas during this era. It originally seated 1,594 people but following conversion 1976 it had three screens- screen 1 had 532 seats, screen 2 had 236 seats & screen 3 had 170 seats. The cinema is a most widely recognised due to it's proscenium arch which is 43 feet wide & has a full stage 26 feet deep behind it.
It became Wakefield ABC in 1962 then later the cannon before finally closing its doors in 1997. The building is due to be demolished & already has planning agreed to do this. Work was supposed to start in March 2008 but became delayed & now in the current economic climate this may increase the life of this present building even longer! The cellar was at the time of our visit totally flooded (6 feet +) & parts of the ground floor were around 1 foot deep in water, however after the recent weather this will only be deeper now. Anyhow enough waffle...here's my pics...i really struggled in dark places due to a ridiculously maximum short exposure time so hope these look ok.
The view from the outside most people see
After all the water we reached dry land & the anticipation built
Then we entered stage left... (well kind of!)
Exploring the building we took in the view of this wonderful arch with the seating of screen 1
Then into screen 2-looking through where the screen was towards the main screen
Then into screen 3 with it's holed screen. This was the smallest screen.
The joint projection room for screen 2 & 3
Some random shots
Part of the aircon switching gear
The letter room (& residents!)
Original ballustrade, hidden during conversion in the 70's, revealed after closure
The battery room with back up batteries still intact
Then onto the roof for some views over Wakefield
Before finally leaving & heading home
Cheers if you've made it this far
Flickr is looking after a few more pics of mine if you fancy a peep...
Sun Apr 18, 2010 6:14 pm by meanwood_monks
Subject: Wakefield ABC Cinema - July 2008 
