Listed Building record MDR12701 - Former Ritz Cinema, South Street, Ilkeston

Former Ritz cinema built in 1938 by Reginald William Gaze Cooper of Nottingham, one of the most important provincial architects working the cinema genre. It is constructed of brick with a contrasting area of glazed faience tile cladding surrounding the main entrance and on a tower feature. It is wedge-shaped in plan, incorporating shop premises on its South Street façade. Its exterior is a composition in moderne styling influenced by contemporary `Odeon' cinemas, derived from German examples of the twenties, while its interior contains much Art Deco styling. The building became a bingo hall after June 1968. (1) A plan of the proposed cinema, dating to 1937, comprising a longitudinal section (incomplete) and elevations to the front and to South Street, signed as approved by the Ilkeston Corporation, is now in the Derbyshire Record Office (D7384/1). (2) The Ritz Cinema was built for the independent exhibitors Ritz (Ilkeston) Ltd and was designed in a modern Art Deco style by the Nottingham based architect Reginald W G Cooper (his seventh cinema design project). It opened on May 20 1938 with Barbara Stanwick in 'Stella Dallas'. The cinema included a slender fin-tower feature and the main façade was covered with light biscuit-coloured Doulton 'carraware' tiles. The auditorium seated 922 and the circle seated 480. The Ritz closed on June 8 1958. It was converted into a bingo club, which remains today, and is a Grade II listed building. (3)