The Majestic, Leeds

The Majestic Cinema, Leeds opened on Whit Monday, 5th June 1922 and was designed to seat 2,500. The architect was P.J. Stienlet of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne and the proprietors were Leeds Picture Playhouses Ltd. The Lord Mayor of Leeds, W. Hodgson Esq. performed the opening ceremony and the first film shown was the silent, melodramatic ‘Way Down East’ which had been released in 1920. It was accompanied by the Majestic Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Francois Grandpierre. Harry Davidson played the Grand ￡5,000 organ with special effects.

An old World War I recruitment office was demolished and cleared to make way for the new Majestic in Leeds City Square.

The cinema also had a dance hall and restaurant that could seat 500 people

Famously two flights over Yorkshire by the German airship Hindenburg took place in May and June of 1936.

The exterior marmo terracotta was made by Leeds Fireclay of Burmantofts. The Cinema closed in 1969. The last film shown was Clint Eastwood in ‘The Good, The Bad and The Ugly’. It was then used as a bingo hall and opened as the Majestyk nightclub in 1996. The nightclub closed in 2006. The building was engulfed by fire in 2014 and badly damaged.

My grandparents used the cinema and dance hall between the 2 wars and my parents used the cinema in the 1960’s. I frequented the venue when it became the Majestyk nightclub in the 1990’s. It has been great to work on a project where so many of my family have shared good times and laughter and even after the fire knowing the building will be brought back to life is great news and a fantastic addition to the city of Leeds.

The building will be brought back to life using various curtain wall systems from Schuco UK Limited.

The Schuco FWS 50 and FWS 60 to the main curtain wall areas at high level with the new slimline FWS 35 PD curtain wall used to re-create the 'Art Deco' windows with curved heads all with an anodised finish.

www.schueco.co.uk