Description

WESTGATE STREET
656-1/40/1844 (North side)

Nos.22 AND 23 Cannon Cinema
17/07/95

GV II

Cinema. 1920. By AJ Taylor.
MATERIALS: Limestone ashlar, roof not visible.
EXTERIOR: Classically fronted picture house on a restricted inner City site. Three storeys, five-bays, windows all sashes with central square pane to narrow margin panes all round, in deep reveals and to raised plat surrounds, plus moulded sills at second floor over aprons with flat disc drops. Ground floor has five large square openings, but filled at each end, separated by channelled pilasters, all crowned by cornice, raised to broken semicircle at centre bay, where first floor window extended down to shaped stone balcony with bronze semi-cylindrical balustrade. First floor rises from deep podium band, inflected below channelled pilasters through two storeys to square cornice under solid blocking course, with dies, and with open panel, with diagonal bars, above windows. Heads of pilasters at ground and second floor carry stepped drops, and above centre bay raised attic with carved coat of arms of Bath City, flanked by drops, and with small scroll supporters. In Saw Close, adjacent to The Loft Club (qv), secondary entrance to cinema, single storey unit with splayed corner, having channelled pilasters under panel, and with balustrade similar to front.
INTERIOR: Six-bay auditorium with rich neo-classical plaster decoration concealing internal structure of concrete and steel. Large console brackets disguise supports for steel roof trusses. Concrete framed balcony.
HISTORY: Originally known as the "Beau Nash Picture House", This cinema, designed by the City Architect in a deliberately Deferential style, was admired as an example of good cinema design in 'The Builder', 14th December 1924, p.757. It belongs to the second generation of cinema buildings.

Listing NGR: ST7488964786

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Komedia official website
• Wikidata Q26688932

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Development and Design of Heritage Sensitive Sites: Strategies for Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas
• 
  Cork: City and County (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of Ireland)
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of History Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Wiltshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)