No_1_February_and_March__1939 — Page 11

Hong Kong Builder

THE CATHAY THEATRE

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Two views of the Cathay Theatre showing the spacious- ness of the interior and the attractiveness of the exterior.

The opening of a new cinema in any community is- always an event of some importance. To the Building Industry this is particularly the case, since the construc- tion of a cinema or theatre building offers the architect far greater scope in the matter of design and the utiliza- tion of new materials than is ordinarily the case, even in the largest of private residences.

The Cathay Theatre recently completed in Wanchai is modest in size and unpretentious in conception. It was designed to cater for Chinese in modest circumstances and, being situated in one of the poorer districts in Hong Kong, n attempt was made to produce a highly decorative or ornamental structure.

Nevertheless, the architects, Messrs. Palmer & Turner, o have succeeded in producing a particularly attractive struc- ture which utilizes as much as possible the features which make theatre buildings so outstanding in any neighbour- hood in which they are built.

The designing of the entrance lobby, always one of the most prominent features in any theatre, has been particularly carefully conceived by the architects and particularly well carried out in marble and vitreous mosaic by the well-known firm of Raoul Bigazzi of Hong Kong.