Remembering HISTORIC NEWCASTLE - Old Photos, Maps, even Stories . . .

[brybat]

wonder where that painting is now,it looks like he's painted the view all the way up to Framlington House.

[Newcastle Historian]

Originally Posted by brybat

thanks,thats the only old pic i've ever seen,must be more out there.Number 1 Framlington place is the house in the background.

Is the first of the two pics of any use?

[johnnypd]

the first pic is claremont street. always thought those houses had an american feel to them.

[brybat]

first pic is at the end of framlington place back lane,directly behind the church on claremont road.
always thought they were really intresting houses though.

[Newcastle Historian]

Historic Cinemas of Newcastle . . .
No. 2 - Queens Hall / The Queens / Queens Cinerama.

The evolution of the name of this major Newcastle cinema, is shown above. The Queens Hall opened to the public on 9th September 1913, situated along the quiet and narrow side street (off Northumberland Street) called Northumberland Place. That little side street is still there, it now leads to Princess Square and the City Library. Externally, Queens Hall was no architectural masterpiece (no-one could really see it, up that narrow alleyway, anyway) but inside it was very luxurious.

Not as 'ornate' as the later-built Paramount/Odeon on nearby Pilgrim Street, but still Newcastle's TOP cinema . .


A very RARE long-view of The Queens, only possible for a short while in 1970, when the old 'Pearl Assurance' building was demolished, and before the new 1970s (current) 'Pearl Assurance House' was built. This is actually a quite HISTORIC photo, as in it you can ALSO see a 'partially constructed' view of the new John Dobson Street flats, Bewick Court . .


The crowds 'flock' to see PSYCHO (Alfred Hitchcock) at the Queens Hall in 1960 . .


At some point, the Queens Hall started to become known just as The Queens and by the late 1950s it had become established as Newcastle's TOP cinema. All the "long runs" played there and you had to 'book' a seat to attend, just like at the Theatre! At all other cinemas of the day, showing short-run 'continuous performances' of double-bills, you just paid at the door and could stay in as long as you wanted that day, all day! I can remember my older sister telling me years later about going to the Queens to see the musical South Pacific. That film set the record for a 'long-run' of a film in Newcastle, as it was on at The Queens for eighty one consecutive weeks. It ran from 22nd September 1958 to 9th April 1960.

The official name change (that I remember) took place in 1963, when I was just a 'cinema-loving' child. In that year the Queens was closed for five months to be transformed into the QUEENS CINERAMA THEATRE, though I remember it still kept advertising itself - and the building works progress - every day in the Evening Chronicle film adverts section, just as it did when it was open!

The 'old' Queens Hall, as seen above, is about to be replaced in 1963, by the huge/massive and very modern "Queens Cinerama" . .


I was a bit of a film fan as a kid, and I was there on the last day it was open as a 'normal' cinema, when it showed the John Wayne film, Red River (what a GREAT film that was, by the way!) and I went in the first week it opened as a "Cinerama" cinema in November 1963, showing the (also John Wayne) film How the West Was Won.

Three 1960s "Film Programmes" (that were always sold at the Queens when it was showing its big long-run movies) from some CINERAMA films I went to see at the Queens . .


Two great views inside the "Queens Cinerama", as originally posted on the MetroCentre IMAX thread, as part of the discussion on relative 'screen sizes'. How BIG was that screen!! . .

Originally Posted by Newcastle Historian

I wonder how big the IMAX screen will be compared to . .

CINERAMA.

There was only the one "Cinerama" cinema ever in Newcastle (or the rest of the North East, as far as I know) and that was the QUEENS CINEMA, just off Northumberland Street. Here are two PHOTOS of the Queens Cinema "Cinerama" screen, which really shows the MASSIVE size. The photos were taken in 1964, and are from the below website . .

http://www.in70mm.com/news/2009/newcastle/index.htm





I know that with Cinerama you really had to go with friends (minimum of two others!) to tell you what was happening on the other parts of the screen!!!

Then on January 3rd 2010, Funkydory replied, as follows . . .

Originally Posted by funkydory

Yes indeed, the Queens was the only ever Cinerama in the North-East, the nearest at any one time being Leeds, Manchester, or Glasgow.

As a regular contibutor to the major international dedicated Cinerama site, here is one of my ads with the Queens Newcastle listed in: www.cinerama.topcities.com/songofnorways.jpg Newcastle as one of the pioneers in the early days of Cinerama showmanship in the UK can be seen here www.cinerama.topcities.com/ukcinerama.htm

Nowadays Bradford has the only dedicated Cinerama operation in the UK called Pictureville and is situated next door to the IMAX complex there. Its usually only operative for Cinereama re-runs on Bank Holiday specials.

There was at one time a Cinerama travelling circus type version called 'Itinerama' which only lasted a few years in the 1960's, and the nearest evidence i have of a North-East England outing for it was in Leeds in 1967.

A view looking the other way (away from the screen) of the much modernised post-1963 Queens Cinerama . .


This extract from the routine (Page 2) Evening Chronicle Cinema Listings from 30th January 1965, shows the Queens Cinerama Advert, as it always looked (only the films changed!!) . .



SOME 'QUEENS CINEMA' MEMORABILLIA . .

On 8th May 1971, I remember meeting two friends at the bottom of Northumberland Street, to go to the (pre-booked) evening performance of the film, WATERLOO, at the Queens. In the Film Programme from the day, I still have the three ticket stubs! . .


In the 'flyer' from the film that day, you can see that you had to book your seats at the "Advance Booking Office" (the only cinema in Newcastle where you had to do that in those days) and that the EXPENSIVE prices . . don't look very expensive nowadays!! . .


The Queens Cinerama retained its status as the premier/long-runs cinema in Newcastle, up until it closed in 1980, though by then it was being managed as a subsidiary of the nearby Odeon.

It was demolished and replaced in the early 1980s by one of two little "quaint shopping" areas new at that time (the other being Leazes Arcade) called "Queens Square". See - http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...7&postcount=76 (on the "Newcastle General Knowledge" thread).


The Journal of Thursday January 17th 1980, reports the closure of The Queens . .



A final goodbye to 'The Queens' . . looking very sad in its partly demolished state, in 1983 . .

[AngerOfTheNorth]

Wow... That's another mammouth post NH!

I really do think that this site/board is going to end up being a massive source/store of information on Tyneside.

[bigchrisfgb]

Interesting read there NH, I never knew about that.
On a similar note is it just me that finds that little square to be rather horrible in it's current state?

[johnnypd]

Originally Posted by bigchrisfgb

Interesting read there NH, I never knew about that.
On a similar note is it just me that finds that little square to be rather horrible in it's current state?

it's pretty awful. bit of a waste considering it is right on northumberland street.

[Newcastle Historian]

Originally Posted by bigchrisfgb

Interesting read there NH, I never knew about that. On a similar note is it just me that finds that little square to be rather horrible in it's current state?

Originally Posted by johnnypd

it's pretty awful. bit of a waste considering it is right on northumberland street.

I assume you are both referring to 'Queens Square', that replaced the Queens Cinema (as it is nowadays) rather than "Princess Square" outside the Library? If so, please follow the below LINK, which (after a short bit about 'Leazes Arcade') contains the opening brochure and a newspaper advert for the new Queens Square shopping Arcade . .

LINK (Queens Square) - http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showpo...7&postcount=76

On that assumption, I can only say that I heartily agree. It is a WASTE of a prime location! How I wish the cinema was still tucked away in there!!

Chris, had you not heard of the Queens Cinema before? If not, then I'm glad you found the article interesting!



.

[AngerOfTheNorth]

Hang on, which square is this? I know Princess Sq (as Historian says, the newly redeveloped on outside the library), but which one is Queens Sq? Google maps seems to point to a building behind Burger King. That can't be right, can it?

[johnnypd]

queens square is that nasty arcade thingy fronting the alleyway that leads you from northumberland street to princess square. i think.

might be wrong but i reckon this is a pic of it

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1024750

[AngerOfTheNorth]

So it's the indoor arcade itself? I just thought that was one big amusement arcade so never went inside!

[Newcastle Historian]

Originally Posted by johnnypd

queens square is that nasty arcade thingy fronting the alleyway that leads you from northumberland street to princess square. i think.

might be wrong but i reckon this is a pic of it

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1024750

Correct, and the LINK that I put in Posts 488 and 492, shows you the brochure of it (after a little bit about 'Leazes Arcade' also) as it was when it first opened, replacing the Queens Cinema.

[bigchrisfgb]

I think the red brick building is fairly nice, apart from the Amusements signs (and the big concrete building at the end, not forgetting Pearl House, I would rather it be something more worthwhile then an Amusement, but the square where Cruise is, well thats just horrible. I'm going to end this post by adding that Cruise has got to be the most overated store, I mean their is nothing there but the discontinued lines you get at department stores.

And no NH, I did not know about the cinema.

[brybat]

I'm only 35 but i can't believe i never knew about that cinema,looks amazing.
My first movie going experience was Superman 1978 at the Odeon i know i was only 5 but i think the Queens would've blown me away even then.What a crime it was replaced by a building i see every time i got to town but have never felt the need to enter,did it ever work as a shopping arcade?

[brybat]

Love that newspaper shot down the alley,do you know where it led to?
Do you think the wall pictured is the side wall of the laing?.
Also on the corner of nortumberland st/sq' is a very intresting little white washed shop with ornate decoration (one of my favourite little buildings),as far as i know it's always been a suit shop does anyone know any more about it?

[johnnypd]

A photograph of the frontage of Amos Atkinson Northumberland Street Newcastle upon Tyne taken in 1976. The decorative plasterwork on the upper half of the building was added in 1953 to celebrate the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. National Westminster Bank is to the left of 'Amos Atkinson' and the entrance to Northumberland Place to the right.Industries Collection

image hosted on flickr

[brybat]

and i thought the decor was much older,still nice though for a fake.
going back to the queens cinema,Waterloo wasn't much of a film,but i bet one of my favourites Zulu would have looked marvelous on such a big screen.

[johnnypd]

lol it's not fake just because it was added later. still quite a bit older than most the posters on here i'd imagine!

[AngerOfTheNorth]

I love that facade! It's very ornate and probably not something that I'd personally design, but you can see how much care and effort have gone into it. It just feels very human I guess. It has detail (which costs money) that is there to provide some level of beauty/joy, beyond the simple structural needs of the building. You can tell that there's more to the building than simply making the greatest financial return for the developer/client.

Which really can't be said for the vast majority of new buildings getting permission at the moment.