Brixton: Ritzy Cinema

The building was designed as the Electric Pavilion in 1910 by E. C. Homer and Lucas. The client was Israel Davis, one of a noted family of cinema developers who created a large chain in south and west London that included the listed Pavilion, Shepherds Bush. The Electric Pavilion opened on 11 March 1911 and was one of England's earliest purpose-built cinemas seating over 750 seats in the single auditorium.

For the next 65 years the Electric Pavilion operated as an important south-London cinema, with only a short period of closure for some alterations and simplifications. These were carried out by George Coles in 1954, when the cinema was renamed Pullman. The 1920s organ was removed from the side of the stage. However the cinema retains the architecture and atmosphere of an Edwardian cinema intact. The Pullman, later the Classic, closed in 1976. It was at this stage that the building came close to demolition and it was only through the collaboration between Lambeth Council and the management of the time that the cinema survived. Thankfully it was reopened as an arts cinema two years later, with the name 'Little Bit Ritzy', from which the present name is derived.
The most important feature is the proscenium arch, with its present asymmetry. There are eight bays expressed by pilasters with simple drops, and in-filled with plaster panels and swags.

The auditorium is a remarkably complete example of an early cinema. It is exactly contemporary with the Grade II-listed Electric on Portobello Road, and it is a slightly simpler version in the same idiom. The auditorium is remarkable for its completeness, and particularly for the fact that the proscenium has never been altered to suit developments in the film industry such as Cinemascope. The exterior has been simplified by the removal of the top gable to the Brixton Oval facade, but some writhing cherubs survive!

Oasis Cinemas bought The Ritzy in 1994 and in conjunction with Brixton Challenge spent one year renovating it to its former glory - adding four screens, a bar and a cafe – and making it the largest independent specialist cinema in the country. In 2003 it joined City Screen Ltd, the country's leading specialist cinema operator.

Check out whats on this week by clicking on the below website
http://www.picturehouses.co.uk/cinema/Ritzy_Picturehouse/Whats_On/

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