The Theatres Trust

Olympia (MGM)

  • Theatre ID
    65
  • Built / Converted
    1899
  • Dates of use
    • 1899 - 1935
  • Current state
    Demolished
  • Current use
    demolished
  • Address
    63 Queen Street, Cardiff, South Glamorgan, Wales

Details

The auditorium stands behind shops on the north side of Queen Street with a one-plot-wide front giving access via an arcade. The building itself, never visible to the public and therefore in plain red brick, clearly shows its origins as a late Victorian concert hall. It was converted to a theatre in 1899 and was known as the Olympia from 1912, when it reopened as a cinéariety house. On modernisation as a cinema in 1935 it retained its stage. ABC took over in 1936. The stage finally went when the cinema was tripled in 1976.


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  • Other names
    Andrews Hall, Olympia, ABCs 1,2 & 3, later: Cannon, MGM
  • Events
    • Owner/Management: Solomon Andrews
    • Design/Construction: n.d. Solomon Andrews Concert Hall
      • Unknown - Architect
    • 1899 Owner/Management: Oswald Stoll, lessee
    • 1899 - 1935 Use:
    • 1899 Alteration: conversion to theatre
      • Unknown - Architect
    • 1902 Owner/Management: Moss Empires Ltd, lessees
    • 1912 Alteration: conversion to cinema
      • Unknown - Architect
    • 1922 Owner/Management: Olympia Cardiff Ltd (Andrews family as owners)
    • 1935 Alteration: cinema modernised
      • Howard Williams - Architect
    • 1936 Owner/Management: Associated British Cinemas Ltd, lessees
    • 1976 Alteration: tripled
      • Unknown - Architect
    • 1992 Owner/Management: MGM Cinemas
  • Capacities
    • Later: 1936: 2047
  • Listings
    • Grade Not listed

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