City Hall

The last cinema in Salisbury to be built, and the first to close; opened in 1937 by Gaumont British (which later became Odeon) it was bought by the City Council in 1961 and converted into the City Hall in memory of the servicemen of Salisbury who gave their lives in the Second World War. It was originally built to fulfil the need for cinema when the Picture House next door became a Drill Hall (and then the Arts Theatre and subsequently the Playhouse), and was very smart. A long spacious vestibule led to a roomy foyer. The striking auditorium was of the stadium type, with seats behind the stalls entrances rising in a steep rake, rather than having the conventional balcony.

Slender silver columns framed the stage with its curtains of cream and peach trimmed with gold and green. When the building was purchased from Odeon, with the understanding that films would not be shown, the basic stadium design remained but with part retractable raked and part flat floor seating. The spacious vestibules and foyers became areas for banquets and conferences. It is used now for professional and amateur stage productions and as a multi-purpose hall.

The façade to Fisherton Street had a pair of cylindrical towers flanking an entrance with a curved canopy and the name PICTURE HOUSE above, all set between curved brick jaws with ornamental shafts at outer edges. One of the jaws, the canopy, the lettering and the necked caps to the towers have been removed and a shop front formed. Despite these rather unsympathetic alterations the City Hall has in some ways more atmosphere than the Playhouse, although its long auditorium is not ideal for intimate productions and plays. Together with the Playhouse, it forms Salisbury’s ‘Entertainment Centre’.