Piccadilly Picture Theatre. 9a-13 Piccadilly

A handsome building, replete with every comfort and luxury, a picture programme well-arranged and irresistibly attractive, and a great audience happily conscious of being well entertained and thoroughly enjoying themselves .... an inspiring beginning for this fine house ....  [Manchester Evening News 1 August 1922.]

Opened on Monday 31st July 1922 the Piccadilly Picture Theatre was Manchester's largest cinema built on the site of the Mosley Hotel. Its oddly proportioned and enormously high auditorium provided seating for 2324 persons mainly on two large balconies. the second balcony having an extraordinary asymmetrical shape.  The ceiling did not slope down to the proscenium but continued level to a considerable height above the stage arch. The projection box was situated half way between the first and second balconies.  The auditorium was decorated in the fashionable neo-classical style with a Greek frieze high above the proscenium arch. It was not particularly well designed for the showing of films, the semi-circular balconies giving oblique views of the screen.  At ground floor level a lengthy foyer provided access to the two balconies by means of a double staircase and lift. The café was situated adjacent to the first-floor landing, overlooking Piccadilly Gardens while the 500 seat restaurant with dance floor occupied virtually the whole of the basement area. The main facade was built in Doulton Carraraware, a matt white faience sometimes mistaken for Portland stone. Professor C H Reilly was somewhat critical of the new building commenting :

The Piccadilly Picture House, with ample space at its disposal suffers severely from general debility Owing to the unfortunate material in which it is built – terra-cotta – the separate blocks are not big enough to span the pilaster faces. Compare the pilasters of this building with those of the Portland Street warehouse of A and S Henry and one sees at once the weakness of small blocks in such places. But it is not only this unfortunate artificial material which makes the weakness of this Piccadilly front. Nothing could be thinner or weaker than the drawing of the windows between the pilasters, all strung together, one above the other. As if to make up, too, for this timidity a row of windows has been omitted above the main cornice and raised panels, with commonplace droops of ornament take their place. Altogether this is a poor yet, with its large order, a pretentious façade, the commendable flatness of which does not make up for its general weakness. [Manchester Guardian 24 September 1923 page 5]

The cinema closed on 7 August 1937, the company apparently in liquidation. After standing empty for over a year the building was sold about December 1938 and converted to a retail arcade with offices above. At some stage following its demise as a cinema the top two floors of the building were removed and a balustrade added.

Reference    Manchester Guardian 20 November 1919 page 15 – prospectus
Reference    Manchester Evening News 1 August 1922.]
Reference    The Picture House Page 33, Page 40
Reference    Richard Gray Cinemas in Britain London 1996 Page 38
Reference    Illustrated in the Builder c 1920
Reference    C H Reilly: Manchester Guardian 24 September 1923 page 5 with illustrations