Rialto Buildings, Upper Parliament Street/Berkley Street, Liverpool 8
Opened 7 October 1927
Plans were first approved for the Rialto cinema on 22 July 1921, when the following was officially recorded:
"With the cinema it is proposed also to construct a ballroom and a temperance restaurant at a total cost of £200,000. The premises at present consist of a garage, stables, an empty house, all old buildings. These had been purchased, with the site, for £15,000, and a deposit of £1,500 had already been paid, the balance to be paid whether or not the application was granted. The directors of the company (Rialto [Liverpool] Ltd.) would be: Alderman Edwin Trounson; James Rylance; Hugh Birkett (shipowner); Harry Kennedy; James Pickup (Managing Director of the Majestic); A George Smith (the Managing Director of the Goldwyn Company). All were already interested in cinemas. The architects would be Gilbert Fraser & Sidney Dalton and it would take 2 years to build."
The cinema was to have 1,515 seats, 900 in the auditorium and 615 in the circle. The ballroom was to built next door to the cinema and would be capable of holding 1,000. Roof gardens would be over the ballroom. There was a lot of opposition to the scheme, including the Liverpool Victoria Nurses’ Home; the Greek Church; Princes Road Welsh Presbyterian Church; Berkley Street Congregational Chapel; St Margaret’s Church; St Bride’s Church; the Home for Incurables; the Church of St James, plus private residents.
On 9 May 1923 revised plans were received by the Building Surveyor’s Department. The cinema was now to have 1,934 seats (1,144 + 790). This, too, was designed by Fraser & Dalton for the Rialto (Liverpool) Ltd.
The above scheme was abandoned. Fresh plans were received on 27 May 1925 which showed that the Ballroom was to be replaced by a billiard hall, with shops over. The cinema would have 1,668 seats (1,220 + 468). The billiard hall to accommodate 200 people. The complex was designed by Gray & Evans. At that time the site consisted of stables and carriage sheds.
The Rialto was built for Frank Hiscocks, who was the secretary of the G. G. & F. Syndicate Ltd. (The first plans for a cinema on the site of the Regal, Norris Green, were submitted in October 1928. It too was to be for the G.G. & F. Syndicate Ltd. The architects, Gray & Evans, had designed a cine-variety theatre with a full-size stage and a fly gallery, plus five dressing rooms. The above scheme fell through and fresh plans were submitted for approval in February 1929. The architect was now Kenmure Kinna of Liverpool and the Regal was then built for "The Carlton Cinema Co." of which Mr W L Hampson was the secretary).
Building work on the Rialto was started by Griffiths, Sons & Cromwell on 5 February 1926, and it was eventually signed-off on 31 December 1927.
On 10 September 1926 there was an application to replace the billiard hall with a ballroom, but it was refused.
A similar application made on 6 May 1927 was then approved, and the following appeared in that evening’s Liverpool Echo:
"An application for a Singing & Music Licence for the Rialto Cinema, Upper Parliament Street, which the Theatres and Public Entertainments Committee refused last September, was again before them this afternoon.
The building was now structurally complete at a cost of £45,000. The ballroom would hold about 650 people in comfort. A cinematograph licence had been granted in 1925.
OPPOSITION.
Opposition was offered by the Workshop and Home for Cripples, 72-74 Upper Parliament Street; the Home for Incurables, 96 Upper Parliament Street; Miss Margaret Walker, 2a Prince’s Road, owner of neighbouring property, and the tenants of that property; Canon Head, Sub-Dean of Liverpool Cathedral; and Dr John Gordon, of Upper Parliament Street.
Mr Justice Lynskey said the objection made by 2 nearby charitable institutions, of the disturbing effect of the orchestra, had been met by moving the orchestra 98 feet further away.
Any noise there was would have to penetrate a wall, a 6 feet area, a solid 9 inch wall, a concrete staircase 5 feet wide, a 14 inch wall, and a room 6 feet, 6 inches wide. Mr A. J. Hodgson said the ladies and gentlemen who served the two charities concerned were not cranks and killjoys, but they had seriously considered the question, and they felt they should protest against the proposed scheme.
YOUNG BOYS AND GIRLS.
Canon Head, who lives in Bedford Street, which is only a short distance from the Rialto, said he knew that many people in the district dreaded the giving of the licence.
"It is all very well to talk of high-class dancing, but this concerns the boys in the offices and the girls in the shops, who are not the sort of people who ought to have a chance of dancing night after night. It will do harm to the general moral standard of the district."
PROCEEDING.
The Chairman ordered that the Ballroom be fitted up with double windows because objections had been raised by the Liverpool Workshops and Home for Cripples (next door – 72-74 Upper Parliament Street), and the Liverpool Home for Incurables (96 Upper Parliament Street). The application was therefore granted."
The Rialto cinema was opened on 7 October 1927. It was then Liverpool’s largest purpose-built cinema (and would be the only cinema in Liverpool to include a dance hall.) It isn’t clear exactly how many seats there were when it opened, but it was planned to hold 1,668 persons. In 1931 there was an official count by the Building Surveyors’ Department of Liverpool Corporation. This revealed there were then 1,646 seats (stalls 1,176, balcony 470). This was just one seat more than the Casino in Prescot Road, the previous record holder. Both cinemas would lose their titles when the Regal in Norris Green opened in January 1930 with 1,756 seats.
The owners of the Rialto were Rialto (Liverpool) Ltd., until they were taken over by GTC on 19 March 1928. GTC soon became part of GB, which later became Rank.
The Rialto was destroyed in the 1981 "Toxteth Riots" when it was completely destroyed by fire in one of Liverpool’s largest peace-time fires.
The site has since been re-developed.
Original research by Philip G Mayer.
