After a weekend of wallpapering and ongoing DIY projects this image seems a funny one to start the week. It is a back staircase in an old cinema built in 1931.

Odeon Plymouth

34-36 Union Street, Plymouth, PL1 3EY

Located in the Stonehouse section in the west of the city centre. Built on the site of the 1,500-seat Andrews New Picture Palace, which had opened in 1910, and was demolished in 1930. The Gaumont Palace was opened on 16th November 1931 with Jack Hulbert in “The Ghost Train” and Sydney Howard in “Almost a Divorce”.

The imposing brick building had a white stone tower feature in the central section above the entrance. Seating inside the auditorium was provided for 1,462 in the stalls and 790 in the circle. The internal decorations were carried out by Clark & Fenn of London. It was re-named Gaumont in 1937.

The Gaumont was closed on 2nd December 1961 for sub-division, with a dance hall occupying the former stalls area, and a 1,043-seat cinema in the former circle area, which had been extended forward. This opened as the Odeon on 10th September 1962, a day after the town’s previous Odeon on Frankfort Street had closed.

The Odeon continued until closing on 9th April 1980, and in December 1980, it was converted into a roller disco in the former stalls area. From 1987, it became a nightclub and rock music venue, last known as ‘The Boulevard’ the building then stood empty and unused. I believe the former circle area containing the Odeon cinema remained closed and unused during this time.

In the summer of 2013, it was converted into a religious broadcast studio.

It is currently on the Buildings at Risk list and is part of the local Conservation Area. In June 2021 it was announced that new owners had taken over the building with plans to convert it into an entertainment centre which will also be programmed as a concert and live performance venue. Renovations began in May 2022.

Contributed by Ken Roe © https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/33729

I have no personal connection with this building beyond frequently walking past . I took the photograph a few years ago when the dark and dank building was used for an art installation and open to the public.

This was a back entrance stairway and it was pretty grotty. Predictably it smelt of pee and mildew. But just tweaking the digital image a bit, brought out both the original colours and the acquired colours of neglect. These secret, neglected corners of previously glamorous places fascinate me.

Not completely unrelated to our redecorating efforts I needed to search out this image to turn into a print for one of our refurbished rooms.

Diving into my digital archive always throws out a photographic nugget or two. This is one of my favourites.

So much going on in one forgotten, dirty space.