The old Capitol Cinema

Jimmy Bottles

Its gas.

People complain non stop about Merchants Quay (The Red Brick Monster) and how it simply doesn't work in the city.

Here we have a derelict red brick building which is as ugly as sin and people are again complaining when it is being replaced with a building which actually does merge in well with the buildings around it.

Has similar Art Deco styling to the building that Burger King is in.

The only question now is who will be the anchor tenant. Rumour has it that it could be House of Frasier.

lisasimpson

o god its an awful looking eyesore the sooner its gone the better. and its not just a big glass building either I think it will be a nice looking building

darkdubh

Theres some interesting old features down that alleyway next to Burgerking that hopefully will be salvaged before they develop it.Theres a really old looking wooden black door on one of the buildings and the decorative metal canopy in the doorway of that pub thats been closed a while.

D'Agger

What's the capacity of the office blocks in the building? Wondering what companies might move in there

AwaitYourReply

lisasimpson wrote: »

o god its an awful looking eyesore the sooner its gone the better. and its not just a big glass building either I think it will be a nice looking building

I fully understand why the former Ward Anderson group were forced to go down the multi-screen route while converting the old Capitol Cinema building from just TWO to SIX Screens on the Grand Parade when they temporarily closed that facility from January-August 1989. Cinema went through a very tough period right throughout the 1980s with most homes now possessing a video cassette player/VCR. I just wished they did not completely destroy the old character facade of this once iconic Capitol building at the T-junction of Grand Parade and Washington Street. The exterior façade of the Capitol Cineplex from the moment it was unveiled looked so cheap and was totally lacking in any degree of sophistication.

Not long afterwards the old Pavilion Cinema on Patrick Street became the HMV Music Store (now a Golden Discs Store) and later the old Palace Cinema on MacCurtain Street was converted back to a theatre again namely: the Everyman Palace which was previously known as the Everyman Playhouse during it's time while based at the Father Matthew Hall near Holy Trinity Church. Another cinema that would also disappear was the former "Classic Cinema" previously called "The Washington" and originally known as "The Ritz" and that cinema was situated right opposite St. Augustine's Church on Washington Street and became professional offices and most recently houses the EDISON Bar (previously Long Island Bar) on the ground floor and offices overhead.

AwaitYourReply

Apollo Immense Tremor wrote: »

It's an awful-looking clock and, as we've seen, not original and about 25 years old.
I'm all for retaining old (and not so old but good quality) street fronts. This, in my humble view, is neither.
Knock it, build again and build better. I woudn't say that about many major buildings in Cork city but this one for sure.

I think the Clock featuring the black background in those pictures (featured earlier in the thread) is a replacement one - I seem to recall there was actually an earlier Clock version for several years when the Cineplex was first unveiled. I think it only main numbers referenced: 12 3 6 9 time pointers against a white background. You nearly had to guess the time on the clock when it was supposed to be working. At least when it stopped, you knew it was broken! Of course in those days, there was a lot of on-street car parking in the middle of the Grand Parade especially on the other side of the Berwick Water Fountain which was handy for parking at night too if you were heading to places like the Capitol Cinema. Later this major parking area and some street lanes would all be removed when the Grand Parade was given a complete makeover.

Log9

It always looked totally out of place to me. It's like something out of that town on Back to The Furture stuck in the middle of a run of classic Victorian and Dutch style classic architecture.

I won't miss it!

The other absolute eyesores are:

The old Fas / Tax office - horrible. How that thing ever got permission is beyond me.

Both Merchants Quay and Patricks Quay are a mess.
The rear of the Metropole Hotel - what is going on there? It's an absolute mess of extensions that have been added over the decades and all of that ugliness facing straight onto a quayside. It's like they forgot it's the most visible side of the structure.

Merchants Quay SC destroyed a whole classic, higgldy piggldy quayside. I'm not sure how it could be improved without demolishing the whole frontage. It's one of the most prominent and visible quaysides in the whole city.

The best looking pieces of modern architecture in Cork are probably Opera Lane which blends in perfectly by creating a new street and the whole quayside work that was done on Lapps Quay. That looks very urban and modern in a nice way.

I don't think the Elyssian is particularly good looking. A glass box would have actually looked a lot better.

ofcork

Looks like loftus have started work on this,signs gone up on grand parade and patrick street.

lisasimpson

good news another positive development for the city

P.lane78

lisasimpson wrote: »

good news another positive development for the city

If only these boys were doing the events centre...no messing about here !!!!

Going Strong

ofcork wrote: »

Looks like loftus have started work on this,signs gone up on grand parade and patrick street.

There was some preliminary site clearance started last weekend apparently.

ofcork

The old place next to the capitol looks like its being demolished at the moment,some of the buildings on patrick st have been vacated too.

Douglas Eegit

ofcork wrote: »

The old place next to the capitol looks like its being demolished at the moment,some of the buildings on patrick st have been vacated too.

Similar to the Albert Quay Site is it possible to get picture updates of this transformation. I was home at Christmas and prob won't be back again until May, end of. This would make me very happy

mire

Douglas Eegit wrote: »

Similar to the Albert Quay Site is it possible to get picture updates of this transformation. I was home at Christmas and prob won't be back again until May, end of. This would make me very happy

No progress really; just preparatory work afaik. Something niggling me about this though. The Grand Parade building (Central Shoe Stores) still has an occupier on upper floors - surely they should have moved by now??

flo8s967qjh0nd

I saw that too. Somebody should tell them the wrecking ball is coming!

Roar

They posted up some pics of one last walkabout they did in there before demolition

https://www.facebook.com/TheCapitolCork/posts/961165310625011



And more images from the Examiner

https://www.facebook.com/irishexaminer/videos/1156371314380529/

And a video of the demolition work beginning

https://twitter.com/Tim_bear/status/691740655853441024

CHealy

JcD certainly doesn't hang about does he. Should have left the Event center with him.

Roar

The golden age of Cork Cinemas facbook has just posted an album of photos from just after its closure. Some gems in here

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.965630060184328.1073741830.335987516481922&type=3

Sonics2k

Roar wrote: »

The golden age of Cork Cinemas facbook has just posted an album of photos from just after its closure. Some gems in here

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.965630060184328.1073741830.335987516481922&type=3

With the exception of the main theatre, the rest of the place really was quite ugly in retrospect.

Roar

Sonics2k wrote: »

With the exception of the main theatre, the rest of the place really was quite ugly in retrospect.

Indeed. It was quite grubby and run down by the end.

Added to the charm of the place though!

I don't get the same buzz out of going to the Omniplex as I did going to the Cineplex.

Although a part of that is down to digital projection as opposed to 35mm projection I think, just doesn't have the same magic to it.

I'm actually quite saddened by the impending demolition of the old place - a huge part of my childhood is literally going to be torn down.

run_Forrest_run

Roar wrote: »

I'm actually quite saddened by the impending demolition of the old place - a huge part of my childhood is literally going to be torn down.

you're not half melodramatic aren't ya?
You'll always have the memories.

xband

My main memory of it having moved to cork was a slightly run down cinema with toilets behind the screens that would cause quite an unpleasant smell of urine and cleaning products in the cinema itself sometimes.

It's a shame Cork doesn't have something like that Kino back again though.

moyners

xband wrote: »

My main memory of it having moved to cork was a slightly run down cinema with toilets behind the screens that would cause quite an unpleasant smell of urine and cleaning products in the cinema itself sometimes.

It's a shame Cork doesn't have something like that Kino back again though.

It's a shame they couldn't have included a small arthouse cinema somewhere to continue the heritage but then again those kind of places rarely make any money and that's what it's all about if you're a developer at the end of the day.

I have good memories of the Capitol too but it really was a kip :-D

ofcork

Apollo Immense Tremor wrote: »

I saw that too. Somebody should tell them the wrecking ball is coming!

They have a sign up saying they are relocating on feb 1st!

flo8s967qjh0nd

Great to see this progressing so speedily. Puts other projects and developers to shame, to say the least.

Nice to see the old photos, I have some memories of the place, especially the big queues stretching down the Grand Parade for the big films. Happy days, but I'm happy to see it going now for the sake of the city.

Nonoperational

Great photos. I remember being thrown out of a 15s movie after I bought the ticket and had sat down... was devastated!

lisasimpson

loved the photos... delighted work has started just what the city centre needed

CHealy

I remember my Dad bringing me to my first movie there to see Casper the Friendly Ghost in the mid 90's, my excitement has rarely been matched since.

ofcork

The clock and all the outside of the cinema is bare now.

physioman

See a new gp surgery opened its doors today next to it above the pharmacy.