York Historic Environment Record

Former New Street Chapel, later the Tower Cinema, on the S.E. side of New Street, was built in 1805 for the Wesleyan Methodists and opened for worship on October 13th of that year. The architect was 'Mr. Rawstorne', presumably John Rawstorne who was awarded the second premium in the Ouse Bridge competition of 1809 (York III, 49). It is said to have cost more than £4,000 and to have had seating for over 2,000 persons. In 1860 a new portico was added and also an organ in an apse behind the pulpit. It was closed in 1908, reopened as the Tower Cinema in 1920 and finally demolished in 1966.

It was built of brick with stone dressings and had a slate-covered roof. The two-storeyed front elevation, set back from the street, had a three-bay centre section with pediment, and a further bay to each side canted backwards; all the doorways and windows were round-arched, the central windows being wider and of tripartite form. All this was hidden after 1920 by a new frontage built further forward. Before conversion to a cinema the interior had a gallery on three sides with a curved front and supported on iron columns. Demolished.

An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in City of York, Volume 5, Central. Originally published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London, 1981.

NMR Information

Alternate Name (Former): Tower Cinema

BF060241 TOWER CINEMA, YORK File of material relating to a site or building. This material has not yet been fully catalogued.

People and Organisations

Architect JOHN RAWSTHORNE 1805

RCHME, 1981, City of York Volume V: The Central Area (Monograph). SYO65.

NMR, 2019, NMR data (Digital archive). SYO2214.