Former congregational chapel, built 1891. It was converted to cinema use in 1920.
East Cliff CA
LLHA0204
Former congregational chapel, built 1891. It was converted to cinema use in 1920. At that point it was called the King’s Cliff Cinema and could seat 370 people. Sound was installed in 1930. In 1951 it became the Continentale Cinema, which specialised in foreign films. From the late 1960s until its closure in 1986 it specialised in pornographic films. It was converted to housing in 1990. Rendered with pitched roof and gable end forming main frontage. Symmetrical, in a stripped-down Romanesque style. Central doorway within heavy arched surround. Round-headed windows to either side of the door, and four further windows above. Pilasters divide the windows at first floor level. Projecting balcony structure with round-headed openings to gable end. Two-storey round-headed recesses to the side elevation (on Sudeley Street), some with windows. Conversion to housing has resulted in a number of alterations and openings being inserted to the side elevation in particular. Source: Carder 1990
ii A good quality example of a building of its type
ii An early example of a building converted to cinema use, in the heyday of cinema development
i Within the East Cliff conservation area, but atypical of the character of the area due to its architectural style, scale and former use.
ii One of few surviving cinema buildings in the city, representative of the last and major phase of cinema development in Brighton. More generally, representative of Brighton & Hove’s importance as a pioneer in film-making F Intactness i The design of the building is relatively intact
2015
