Electric Palace, Harwich: One Of The World's Oldest Purpose Built Cinemas

The Electric Palace in Harwich is one of the world's oldest purpose built cinemas.

Abandoned for 16 years, the Grade II* listed building was remarkably resorted to its former glory.

Built in 1911, only two years after the introduction of the Cinematograph Act (1909), the Electric Palace is one of the oldest purpose-built cinemas in existence.

The original features include an ornate plaster ceiling, ornamental front entrance, projection room and the original screen - witness to more than 100 years of cinema history from the earliest days of silent film.

It was the first cinema created by Charles Thurston, a travelling showman who was well known in East Anglia.

He built two more cinemas, the Empire Cinema in Biggleswade and the Palace Cinema in Norwich.

Architect Harold Hooper was only 25 years old when he designed the Electric Palace Cinema, his first major building design.

The Electric Palace was built in 18 weeks at a cost of £1,500 and opened on Wednesday, 29 November 1911, the first film being "The Battle of Trafalgar and The Death of Nelson".

The cinema was an immediate success and continued to be financially successful through WW1 thanks to the presence of Navy personnel in the port of Harwich.

However, almost as soon as the war was over business at the “Palace” went into decline due to the loss of population from Harwich to nearby Dovercourt and competition from the newer, plusher, cinemas there.

For nearly four decades the Palace struggled on, never doing badly enough to close, but never doing well enough to justify enlargement or a major facelift.

Then in 1953, the cinema was inundated by seawater due to the East-Coast flood of that year, which forced it to close.

The cinema closed in 1956 after 45 years entertaining the people of Harwich and lay derelict for the next 16 years.

It miraculously escaped demolition in 1972 due to the intervention of Gordon Miller, who rediscovered the cinema, and the Harwich Society, who rescued it.

It was reopened in 1981 by the Harwich Electric Palace Trust.

This dedicated team has been responsible for running the community cinema for the past 40 years and oversaw the major cinema restoration project.

The grand re-opening, was filmed by the BBC for their children's programme Blue Peter.

In November 2006, British actor Clive Owen became patron of the cinema and at his first official visit he helped launch an appeal to raise funds to repair this historic building.

Today, the Electric Palace now runs as a community cinema showing films every weekend.

Typically, there are five film shows each weekend including matinees.

Someone who recently visited said: “The Electric Palace is very much as I remembered, a beautiful building with stunning architecture.

”The price of admission was very reasonable as were the prices in the concessions stand. Great evening, will return.”

What was Electric Palace like in the 1920s?

In the golden age of the Electric Palace society was still fairly rigidly stratified into classes and this reflected in the seating arrangements.

Entry to the better seats was through the front entrance foyer, the prices being sixpence for good seats and one shilling for the very best.

The cheaper seats were simply wooden benches and entry to these was past another paybox down an alley at the side.

This entrance was known as the 'tuppenny rush.'

One doorman remembered the rush being so great that he ended up flat on his back with the children stampeding over him as in a Mack Sennett comedy – and most of them getting in for nothing!

Watching films in 1920s England was quite a different experience compared to today.

Most films during the 1920s were silent films, meaning they had no synchronised sound.

Instead, live musical accompaniment, such as piano, organ, or sometimes even a small orchestra, would provide the soundtrack during screenings.

In larger theatres, there might be more elaborate arrangements, including live sound effects and orchestral scores.

Going to the cinema was a social event. People dressed up for the occasion, and attending the cinema was considered a glamorous outing.

For many, it was a chance to escape from everyday life and be transported to different worlds depicted on the screen.

Towards the end of the 1920s, sound technology began to emerge with the introduction of "talkies," films with synchronised sound.

This marked a significant transition in the film industry, leading to the decline of silent films.

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