Proposed Cinema, 13 Dalton Square, Lancaster

In 1915 Robert Thompson, the local builder and contractor, who had erected the Picturedrome in Lower Church Street in 1911, planned a new cinema in Dalton Square. Thompson had a contractor’s yard on the east side of Dalton Square and lived at No 13 on the west side. Like many others, he expected the Great War to last less than a year. Thus he commissioned the architect Albert Winstanley, who had previously worked on The Grand on St Leonard’s Gate, to design a “super” cinema on the site of his house. Plans (No. 3037) were drawn up for a large, three-storey “Wrenaissance”-style building. Although the scheme was granted approval, construction was delayed by the War. Post-war restrictions further delayed it until 1921 when this plan was abandoned.

Reference           Colin Stansfield: The Earliest Cinemas in Lancaster Contrebis 2017 v35 page 68