Decorative mantlepiece

Visitors to HPPH will be all too familiar with the decorative mantelpiece which proudly sits in our foyer – above what used to be a fireplace and later became our small kiosk. Visitors will also be familiar with how congested our foyer would often get during busy periods.

So to create more space in the foyer for audiences, and a new accessible toilet, a major part of The Picture House Project has been to move the foyer back-wall further into the auditorium. However this change couldn’t be done without disturbing the historic mantelpiece above.

And so over a year ago we worked with plasterwork specialists Ornate Interiors to take a cast of the mantel. Some pieces were then stored off-site, whilst some were carefully recreated from the moulds. And last week we were delighted to see it reinstated in the foyer.

Structural changes to our building have been essential in making the cinema both more accessible and sustainable. But whenever change has happened, we’ve also worked hand-in-hand with heritage specialists to preserve, repair and reinstate important historic features.

Thanks so much to our Page\Park project architect Mark for sharing pages of his lovely notebook.