Usksider's Photo Blog

Wouldn't you just lay odds there's a picturesque little glade at the end of this woodland path?

And when you find your beautiful shady glade... what would you do in it?

I know what my answer would be...

The New Victoria Theatre in Princes Way, Bradford was built by William Illingworth on the site of William Whittaker's Brewery which closed in 1928.

The New Victoria, which was designed as a vast ciné-variety theatre with 3,318 seats on three levels, Stalls, Circle and Balcony, opened on Monday the 22^nd of September 1930.

The theatre had a very large stage with a proscenium arch and a moving platform which could deliver an entire orchestra from the back of the stage to the front.

The orchestra pit itself included a Wurlitzer pipe organ on a rising platform.

The theatre boasted twelve dressing rooms and was capable of staging very large live productions quite apart from its use as a cinema.

The New Victoria also incorporated two flats for management, a restaurant seating over 200 people and a large and elegant ballroom.

New Victoria Theatre, Bradford

Several generations of Bradford people must have happy memories of this great cathedral of entertainment, which has dominated the city centre for more than eighty years.

The New Victoria is an architectural gem and has a rich and varied history which surely prompts many anecdotal stories. What a tragedy then, that this once grand institution has been allowed to slowly decay and fall into ruin...

No weekend in Bradford would be complete without a wander around the city centre with a camera.

This is one of my favourite buildings... and I don't just mean in Bradford.

City Hall, Bradford

I've blogged the history of the building previously, but essentially it took three years to construct and was first opened for business on 9 September 1873 by the Mayor, Alderman Matthew Thompson.

The original building has been extended twice, first in 1909 when committee rooms and a banqueting hall were added and again in 1914 when the entrance was redesigned and a grand staircase added.

A truly beautiful building... in my eyes at least.