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Does anyone have any info or a photo of Curzon Hall Suffolk St (Not Curzon St station)
The cinema was the characteristic new form of entertainment in the pre-television age. The first cinema shows in Birmingham had been presented in the Curzon Hall, Suffolk Street, a hall originally designed in 1864 for dog shows. It held 3,000 people, and in 1915 it became known as the West End Cinema. (fn. 89) Its proprietor, Walter Jeffs, had originally included films as a subsidiary part of a show: in time, they became the main attraction. 'Mr. Jeff's pictures', the Birmingham Daily Mail noted before 1914, 'are now established as one of the recreation institutions of the city, and the fact that they never fail to attract large audiences is due to their artistic merit'. (fn. 90) Jeffs included films of local interest, such as films of the royal visit to Birmingham in 1909 or 'Shakespeareland' (1908). One satisfied customer wrote to him in 1909:
'Dear Mr. Jeffs, I must confess
Your pictures are a treat
And all who come, both old and young
Can always have a seat.' (fn. 91)
From: 'Economic and Social History: Social History since 1815', A History of the County of Warwick: Volume 7: The City of Birmingham (1964), pp. 223-45. URL: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.asp?compid=22967. Date accessed: 17 September 2006.
The appeal, headed "YOUR KING AND COUNTRY NEEDS YOU. A CALL TO ARMS", was issued by War Secretary Lord Kitchener in the hope of bolstering the ranks of the Regular Army by 100,000. Recruits were urged to report to the National Reserve headquarters in Suffolk Street. The Town Hall was also opened as a recruiting centre, followed by Curzon Hall in October.
https://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/expats/pastpres/tm_objectid=
14494701&method=full&siteid=50002&headline=
a-time-for-flowers-and-bullets-name_page.html#story_continue
Found this piece when looking for something else! Been looking for more detail on this building for a long time! Knew it was built to house a dog show but not found references in the standard Birmingham texts.I got interesting in this building and have cobbled together a bit of blurb at :
History and Information on Suffolk Street in Birmingham
History and Information on Suffolk Street in Birmingham in Warwickshire with Photographs, Pubs, Licensees, Local Folklore, Census Data, Newspaper Articles and Genealogy Connectionswww.midlandspubs.co.uk
It later became the New Century Picture Theatre, then the West End Cinema http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/19933
Welcome to the Forum Ruth!Found this piece when looking for something else! Been looking for more detail on this building for a long time! Knew it was built to house a dog show but not found references in the standard Birmingham texts.
Dog shows as we know them started in 1859 (June Newcastle, then Birmingham at the same time as the Birmingham Cattle show for which Bingley Hall was built in 1840)
May 1860 the Birmingham Dog Show Society was founded to run the National Dog Show - which it continues to do until this day (at Bingley Hall, Stafford). The society is the oldest organisation running dog shows in the world and predates The Kennel Club by a decade. Two members of its committee were apparently trustees of the building.
William Lort - family made money making artificial limbs and were involved I believe with the creation of the Midland Bank. His wife took advantage of the greater opportunity for wives divorcing husbands. (He lived in Kings Norton)
James Hemming Whitehouse - needle manufacturer of Ipsley Court, Warwickshire.
Would be interested in more info on the building and on the two gentlemen