This digital archive comprises images and a report from an archaeological and architectural photographic record of Hyde Park Picture House, 73 Brudenell Road, Leeds, LS6 1JD. The work was produced in February 2021, by ArcHeritage. The record was required to support an application for Listed Building Consent for the refurbishment and conservation of the historic cinema. An intermittent structural watching brief was also undertaken during the refurbishment works.

Hyde Park Picture House was built in 1914, possibly designed by Thomas Winn for Henry Child. The Picture House continued to be run by the Child family until 1958. The cinema changed hands and faced closure several times until the formation of The Friends of the Hyde Park Picture House in 1984. As a result of their struggle to keep the cinema open, the cinema was acquired by Leeds City Council in 1989 and listed in 1993.

The construction of the Picture House incorporated the cellar of an earlier building erected at least by 1908. This functioned as a ‘Social and Recreation Club’ until 1913 when the above-ground structure was demolished to enable the construction of an elegant cinema theatre. The cinema was constructed in accordance with the 1909 Cinematograph Act, employing fireproof brick walls, concrete floors, steel trusses and other steel members. The steel framing included three longitudinal compound girders supporting the sloping concrete floor of the main auditorium and an integral balcony with raking girders to create a column-free cantilevered design. The feature for which the Picture House is perhaps best known is its gas lighting, which is partially extant and still operational.