No_1_May_and_June__1953 — Page 41

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With the mounting costs of other 1orms of amusement, the cinemas still remain one of the cheapest mediums of light entertainment. The increased demand by audiences has resulted in the construction of seve- ral new theatres of various sizes in the Colony, during recent years.

Previously, Kowloon was rather more poorly served in this respect than was the island, but this has now been largely remedied by the con- struction of the Princess Theatre, the large and luxurious new cinema in the centre of the shopping area of the heavily populated district of Tsim Sha Tsui, which is mainly residential in character. This theatre, which is showing only first-run pictures, is now the largest in the Colony. is of commanding proportions and the structure is impressive both in- side and out.

It

The site is almost rectangular in shape and is a little less than an acre in area: it lies at the corner of Nathan and Kimberley Roads, op- posite Whitfield Barracks in Kowloon. The site was used as a market garden for many years, except for a few shops located on the Nathan Road The level of the site was frontage. originally lower than that of Nathan Road, and full use of this fact has been made in the design to avoid further costly excavation.

The completed

theatre from

Nathan Road,

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site, through a large entrance hall lounge there is access to the gallery containing the ticket booths for the up a staircase at one end of the room. back stalls and the dress circle. From this hall patrons will pass into a foyer, which is dominated by a foun- tain finished in black Italian marble, flanked by two gold Venetian mosaic pillars: water from the fountain falls into a goldfish pool, which is lit by lights of changing colours.

To the right of the central foun- tain there is a staircase leading down to the auditorium, and to the left is The entrance to the theatre itself a second shorter staircase leading up is at the north-west corner of the to the lower lounge. From

this

Apart from the auditorium, other accommodation provided in the base- ment includes a cold storage depart- ment, a room for the airconditioning stores and offices. plant, a machine room, and various A car-park has been

the provided in

north-east corner of the site, with an entrance from Kimberley Road. From the car- park access road, it is possible to get to the cold storage section and to the front stall entrance.

The interior of the theatre from the proscenium.

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The main lobby showing the illuminated fountain.