The old Capitol Cinema

Pitcairn · 26-08-2015 10:19am

An Taisce and one the stall holders in the market have lodged the appeals.

http://www.eveningecho.ie/cork-news/heritage-body-and-english-market-trader-lodge-capitol-appeals/

namloc1980 · 26-08-2015 11:02am

Pitcairn wrote: »

An Taisce and one the stall holders in the market have lodged the appeals.

http://www.eveningecho.ie/cork-news/heritage-body-and-english-market-trader-lodge-capitol-appeals/

Well it was a banker that An Taisce would appeal. According to the article they are concerned about the height of the development! There seems to be a massive fear about big buildings in Ireland. Surprised to see a market trader appealing. C. 4 months for it to go through the An Bord Pleanala process. Pity.

cgcsb · 26-08-2015 12:22pm

An Taisce have been a key part of Dublin's housing crisis, anything that isn't mock Georgian gets objected to while human beings have to commute from Kildare or sleep on the streets. Have they not done enough damage? should there be restrictions placed on their serial objecting? perhaps limit the number they're allowed.

flo8s967qjh0nd · 26-08-2015 3:52pm

I'm confused...
In the reporting of this delay, an English Market trader is mentioned as being one of the appellants. However, an objection from this person does not appear to have been made at local level. As far as I'm aware, one must first make a submission at the local level to be permitted to appeal the decision to An Bord Pleanala. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Shame about the delay. It's only 4 months though, chances are the story that they were going to start "in weeks" was a bit of an exaggeration anyway. It'll all work out in the end!

lostinsuperfunk · 26-08-2015 4:19pm

Yeah, they probably had factored in a likely appeal to ABP, although I didn't see any submissions from traders in the English Market to Cork City Council.

It's a shame - Grand Parade is a wide street and the location at the junction with Washington St allows for a reasonably tall building. I think it will look ok. The events centre is a far more imposing building.

namloc1980 · 26-08-2015 5:00pm

Apollo Immense Tremor wrote: »

I'm confused...
In the reporting of this delay, an English Market trader is mentioned as being one of the appellants. However, an objection from this person does not appear to have been made at local level. As far as I'm aware, one must first make a submission at the local level to be permitted to appeal the decision to An Bord Pleanala. Can anyone shed any light on this?

Shame about the delay. It's only 4 months though, chances are the story that they were going to start "in weeks" was a bit of an exaggeration anyway. It'll all work out in the end!

There are exceptions to the rule. A person with an interest in lands or a site adjoining the development can make an application to appeal to ABP without a prior submission

roundymac · 26-08-2015 8:25pm

Bertie Ahern once said "his greatest regret while in Government was that he did'nt abolish An Tasice, for once I'm in agreement with him.

mire · 27-08-2015 9:57am

roundymac wrote: »

Bertie Ahern once said "his greatest regret while in Government was that he did'nt abolish An Tasice, for once I'm in agreement with him.

Yeah, that'd be great. Inspirational stuff.

In other words, Bertie's builder friends would benefit from a nice and easy ride through the world of planning, allowing their substandard and poor quality developments everywhere. With no dissenting voices. Because we all know that Bertie doesn't like dissenting voices...whingers he called them, suggested they all committed suicide.

There's a role for organisations like An Taisce. In fact, it's essential that they exist and offer an opposing view. (In this case though they don't actually object to the development in principle and are quite complimentary towards it). I suspect and hope this scheme gets permission, and it is a pity it was delayed, but we live in a democracy.

BTW, should Superfruit 'be abolished'?

Pitcairn · 27-08-2015 11:40am

Apollo Immense Tremor wrote: »

I'm confused...
In the reporting of this delay, an English Market trader is mentioned as being one of the appellants. However, an objection from this person does not appear to have been made at local level. As far as I'm aware, one must first make a submission at the local level to be permitted to appeal the decision to An Bord Pleanala. Can anyone shed any light on this?

That market trader Michael Corrigan did make a submission at a local level.

j8wk2feszrnpao · 27-08-2015 12:19pm

mire wrote: »

In other words, ........

No, not in other words. Just those words.

cgcsb · 27-08-2015 1:04pm

mire wrote: »

Yeah, that'd be great. Inspirational stuff.

In other words, Bertie's builder friends would benefit from a nice and easy ride through the world of planning, allowing their substandard and poor quality developments everywhere. With no dissenting voices. Because we all know that Bertie doesn't like dissenting voices...whingers he called them, suggested they all committed suicide.

There's a role for organisations like An Taisce. In fact, it's essential that they exist and offer an opposing view. (In this case though they don't actually object to the development in principle and are quite complimentary towards it). I suspect and hope this scheme gets permission, and it is a pity it was delayed, but we live in a democracy.

BTW, should Superfruit 'be abolished'?

you have a point but an taisce don't object on the basis that apartments might be 'low quality' they object because of 'height' and 'character' and 'vistas'. There are now rules governing the minimum standard of apartments.

flo8s967qjh0nd · 27-08-2015 3:27pm

Pitcairn wrote: »

That market trader Michael Corrigan did make a submission at a local level.

I don't see it on the city council website. However, as we've seen, there are exceptions to the rule anyway.

Pitcairn · 27-08-2015 3:32pm

Apollo Immense Tremor wrote: »

I don't see it on the city council website. However, as we've seen, there are exceptions to the rule anyway.

He's there alright. He was one of 11 submissions.
http://planning.corkcity.ie/InternetEnquiry/rpt_ViewObjectorDetails.asp?page_num=0&file_number=1536340

An Bord Pleanála have also put up the date for the appeal decision. January 4th. Of course that could get pushed back.
http://www.pleanala.ie/casenum/245371.htm

flo8s967qjh0nd · 27-08-2015 3:42pm

Pitcairn wrote: »

He's there alright. He was one of 11 submissions.
http://planning.corkcity.ie/InternetEnquiry/rpt_ViewObjectorDetails.asp?page_num=0&file_number=1536340

Well spotted! So not all of the submissions are available to read online then? I was going by the submissions available to view.
http://planning.corkcity.ie/idocs/listFiles.aspx?catalog=planning&id=1536340

Pitcairn · 27-08-2015 3:44pm

Apollo Immense Tremor wrote: »

Well spotted! So not all of the submissions are available to read online then? I was going by the submissions available to view.

The planning website is a nightmare to use. You have to use some weird plugin to view the scanned documents and then have to click through each one to find the various submissions and drawings.

All applications and submissions should be done electronically and online raher than on paper.

namloc1980 · 27-08-2015 5:17pm

Pitcairn wrote: »

The planning website is a nightmare to use. You have to use some weird plugin to view the scanned documents and then have to click through each one to find the various submissions and drawings.

All applications and submissions should be done electronically and online raher than on paper.

Or they should use PDFs like the rest of the world. Not an obscure programme that hasn't been updated by its own developers since 2005.

Rhys Essien · 11-11-2015 3:35pm

Video here of how the finished job will look.

https://vimeo.com/141152783?fb_action_ids=556812767802848&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B717244548375962%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.likes%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

Roar · 11-11-2015 7:19pm

I'd love to have a walk around in there before the cinema is demolished, just to relive old memories, loved going to the Cineplex, was going there since I was a kid. Even though I'd imagine it's just full of rats and pigeons now.

D'Agger · 11-11-2015 11:24pm

Rhys Essien wrote: »

Video here of how the finished job will look.

https://vimeo.com/141152783?fb_action_ids=556812767802848&fb_action_types=og.likes&fb_source=other_multiline&action_object_map=%5B717244548375962%5D&action_type_map=%5B%22og.likes%22%5D&action_ref_map=%5B%5D

Looks fantastic

thomil · 18-12-2015 12:09pm

Sorry for pulling this thread out of the morgue, but An Board Pleanála have upheld the planning permission for the Capitol redevelopment, according to the Evening Echo:

http://www.eveningecho.ie/cork-news/capitol-cinema-redevelopment-granted-planning-permission/1365509/

Nice christmas present for the city in my eyes!

Nerdlingr · 18-12-2015 1:23pm

Wish they'd try and keep the old facade on the front of it.

moyners · 18-12-2015 3:38pm

thomil wrote: »

Sorry for pulling this thread out of the morgue, but An Board Pleanála have upheld the planning permission for the Capitol redevelopment, according to the Evening Echo:

http://www.eveningecho.ie/cork-news/capitol-cinema-redevelopment-granted-planning-permission/1365509/

Nice christmas present for the city in my eyes!

Great news!

namloc1980 · 18-12-2015 7:48pm

Nerdlingr wrote: »

Wish they'd try and keep the old facade on the front of it.

Really? It's am awful looking building with no redeeming qualities IMHO.

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Sonics2k · 18-12-2015 7:55pm

Nerdlingr wrote: »

Wish they'd try and keep the old facade on the front of it.

I was thinking the same thing until I passed it today and had a good look at it while sitting in traffic. It's actually not a very nice looking building on the front at all, it's just a nostalgic memory of it being this classic old type theatre. It's actually quite ugly.

Oafley Jones · 18-12-2015 11:17pm

namloc1980 wrote: »

Really? It's am awful looking building with no redeeming qualities IMHO.

It's feckin brutal. Can't wait till its gone.

flo8s967qjh0nd · 19-12-2015 2:18am

Oafley Jones wrote: »

It's feckin brutal. Can't wait till its gone.

The most recent 'upgrade' (1980s?) has made it look awful. The original was much nicer, judging by old photos.
The sooner it goes the better. Great news for Cork.

AwaitYourReply · 19-12-2015 6:42am

Nerdlingr wrote: »

Wish they'd try and keep the old facade on the front of it.

Ah well you should have been around to see the original facade which in my view had much more class look than the Capitol Cineplex design when the more modern cinema complex re-opened in August 1989. I felt the place had lost it's soul and got quite grubby after a few years. In the '70s to early '80s I can vaguely remember the cinema was a more glamorous affair as the Chief Usher used be smartly dressed in a suit with trill
It took me quite a while to source the older visual image of the Capitol Cinema pre Cineplex era and I think the below image is a still from RTÉ Television from 1982.

Capitol Cinema Cork in 1982 below here ("Capitol" sign lettering on the exterior façade of the building used light up in green usually after dark in those days)

https://img.rasset.ie/000b546e-1500.jpg

RTÉ VIDEO FILM FOOTAGE - (Copy and Paste this link into address bar at top)

http://www.rte.ie/archives/2015/1028/738052-cork-film-festival-hits-tough-times/

In fact the very first movie which I ever watched in any cinema was in the old Capitol Cinema on Grand Parade back in 1977 (my eldest sister brought me and my sister to the very 1st original "STAR WARS" film when I was just 6 years old) and there was only two screens in this building namely:

Capitol
Mini Capitol

11 Things We No Longer See At The Movies
http://mentalfloss.com/article/52164/11-things-we-no-longer-see-movie-theaters

freshpopcorn · 19-12-2015 7:09am

It be nice if they kept the clock and added it into the new development.

AwaitYourReply · 19-12-2015 7:29am

freshpopcorn wrote: »

It be nice if they kept the clock and added it into the new development.

I usually like to see an impressive functioning Clock mounted on the exterior façade of some major buildings such as at key road junctions. However; the clock on that Capitol Cineplex was often allowed to be wrong or stall altogether even when the cinema was fully operational. I'd also like to be able to know the exact hour and minute on a clock if possible.

Speaking of public clocks - the James Mangan clock situated on Patrick Street just outside Merchants Quay Shopping Centre which was once opposite James Mangan's jewellery store (it closed when they demolished buildings to make way for Merchants Quay Shopping Centre which opened around 1988) The time indicated on Mangan's clock has been incorrect for a good while now which is very disappointing. Surely Cork City Council could come up with a viable solution when the clocks go back in October or go forward in March.

flo8s967qjh0nd · 20-12-2015 2:50am

freshpopcorn wrote: »

It be nice if they kept the clock and added it into the new development.

It's an awful-looking clock and, as we've seen, not original and about 25 years old.
I'm all for retaining old (and not so old but good quality) street fronts. This, in my humble view, is neither.
Knock it, build again and build better. I woudn't say that about many major buildings in Cork city but this one for sure.

Jimmy Bottles · 20-12-2015 12:02pm

Its gas.

People complain non stop about Merchants Quay (The Red Brick Monster) and how it simply doesn't work in the city.

Here we have a derelict red brick building which is as ugly as sin and people are again complaining when it is being replaced with a building which actually does merge in well with the buildings around it.

Has similar Art Deco styling to the building that Burger King is in.

The only question now is who will be the anchor tenant. Rumour has it that it could be House of Frasier.

lisasimpson · 20-12-2015 1:57pm

o god its an awful looking eyesore the sooner its gone the better. and its not just a big glass building either I think it will be a nice looking building

darkdubh · 20-12-2015 5:13pm

Theres some interesting old features down that alleyway next to Burgerking that hopefully will be salvaged before they develop it.Theres a really old looking wooden black door on one of the buildings and the decorative metal canopy in the doorway of that pub thats been closed a while.

D'Agger · 20-12-2015 9:24pm

What's the capacity of the office blocks in the building? Wondering what companies might move in there

AwaitYourReply · 20-12-2015 10:41pm

lisasimpson wrote: »

o god its an awful looking eyesore the sooner its gone the better. and its not just a big glass building either I think it will be a nice looking building

I fully understand why the former Ward Anderson group were forced to go down the multi-screen route while converting the old Capitol Cinema building from just TWO to SIX Screens on the Grand Parade when they temporarily closed that facility from January-August 1989. Cinema went through a very tough period right throughout the 1980s with most homes now possessing a video cassette player/VCR. I just wished they did not completely destroy the old character facade of this once iconic Capitol building at the T-junction of Grand Parade and Washington Street. The exterior façade of the Capitol Cineplex from the moment it was unveiled looked so cheap and was totally lacking in any degree of sophistication.

Not long afterwards the old Pavilion Cinema on Patrick Street became the HMV Music Store (now a Golden Discs Store) and later the old Palace Cinema on MacCurtain Street was converted back to a theatre again namely: the Everyman Palace which was previously known as the Everyman Playhouse during it's time while based at the Father Matthew Hall near Holy Trinity Church. Another cinema that would also disappear was the former "Classic Cinema" previously called "The Washington" and originally known as "The Ritz" and that cinema was situated right opposite St. Augustine's Church on Washington Street and became professional offices and most recently houses the EDISON Bar (previously Long Island Bar) on the ground floor and offices overhead.

AwaitYourReply · 20-12-2015 10:57pm

Apollo Immense Tremor wrote: »

It's an awful-looking clock and, as we've seen, not original and about 25 years old.
I'm all for retaining old (and not so old but good quality) street fronts. This, in my humble view, is neither.
Knock it, build again and build better. I woudn't say that about many major buildings in Cork city but this one for sure.

I think the Clock featuring the black background in those pictures (featured earlier in the thread) is a replacement one - I seem to recall there was actually an earlier Clock version for several years when the Cineplex was first unveiled. I think it only main numbers referenced: 12 3 6 9 time pointers against a white background. You nearly had to guess the time on the clock when it was supposed to be working. At least when it stopped, you knew it was broken! Of course in those days, there was a lot of on-street car parking in the middle of the Grand Parade especially on the other side of the Berwick Water Fountain which was handy for parking at night too if you were heading to places like the Capitol Cinema. Later this major parking area and some street lanes would all be removed when the Grand Parade was given a complete makeover.

Log9 · 21-12-2015 9:44am

It always looked totally out of place to me. It's like something out of that town on Back to The Furture stuck in the middle of a run of classic Victorian and Dutch style classic architecture.

I won't miss it!

The other absolute eyesores are:

The old Fas / Tax office - horrible. How that thing ever got permission is beyond me.

Both Merchants Quay and Patricks Quay are a mess.
The rear of the Metropole Hotel - what is going on there? It's an absolute mess of extensions that have been added over the decades and all of that ugliness facing straight onto a quayside. It's like they forgot it's the most visible side of the structure.

Merchants Quay SC destroyed a whole classic, higgldy piggldy quayside. I'm not sure how it could be improved without demolishing the whole frontage. It's one of the most prominent and visible quaysides in the whole city.

The best looking pieces of modern architecture in Cork are probably Opera Lane which blends in perfectly by creating a new street and the whole quayside work that was done on Lapps Quay. That looks very urban and modern in a nice way.

I don't think the Elyssian is particularly good looking. A glass box would have actually looked a lot better.

ofcork · 15-01-2016 6:50pm

Looks like loftus have started work on this,signs gone up on grand parade and patrick street.

lisasimpson · 15-01-2016 8:04pm

good news another positive development for the city

P.lane78 · 15-01-2016 11:59pm

lisasimpson wrote: »

good news another positive development for the city

If only these boys were doing the events centre...no messing about here !!!!

Going Strong · 16-01-2016 1:57pm

ofcork wrote: »

Looks like loftus have started work on this,signs gone up on grand parade and patrick street.

There was some preliminary site clearance started last weekend apparently.

ofcork · 20-01-2016 3:38pm

The old place next to the capitol looks like its being demolished at the moment,some of the buildings on patrick st have been vacated too.

Douglas Eegit · 22-01-2016 4:07pm

ofcork wrote: »

The old place next to the capitol looks like its being demolished at the moment,some of the buildings on patrick st have been vacated too.

Similar to the Albert Quay Site is it possible to get picture updates of this transformation. I was home at Christmas and prob won't be back again until May, end of. This would make me very happy

mire · 22-01-2016 5:24pm

Douglas Eegit wrote: »

Similar to the Albert Quay Site is it possible to get picture updates of this transformation. I was home at Christmas and prob won't be back again until May, end of. This would make me very happy

No progress really; just preparatory work afaik. Something niggling me about this though. The Grand Parade building (Central Shoe Stores) still has an occupier on upper floors - surely they should have moved by now??

flo8s967qjh0nd · 22-01-2016 6:45pm

I saw that too. Somebody should tell them the wrecking ball is coming!

Roar · 26-01-2016 8:02am

They posted up some pics of one last walkabout they did in there before demolition

https://www.facebook.com/TheCapitolCork/posts/961165310625011

And more images from the Examiner

https://www.facebook.com/irishexaminer/videos/1156371314380529/

And a video of the demolition work beginning

https://twitter.com/Tim_bear/status/691740655853441024

CHealy · 26-01-2016 10:56am

JcD certainly doesn't hang about does he. Should have left the Event center with him.

Roar · 26-01-2016 12:40pm

The golden age of Cork Cinemas facbook has just posted an album of photos from just after its closure. Some gems in here

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.965630060184328.1073741830.335987516481922&type=3

Sonics2k · 26-01-2016 8:22pm

Roar wrote: »

The golden age of Cork Cinemas facbook has just posted an album of photos from just after its closure. Some gems in here

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.965630060184328.1073741830.335987516481922&type=3

With the exception of the main theatre, the rest of the place really was quite ugly in retrospect.

Roar · 27-01-2016 8:02am

Sonics2k wrote: »

With the exception of the main theatre, the rest of the place really was quite ugly in retrospect.

Indeed. It was quite grubby and run down by the end.

Added to the charm of the place though!

I don't get the same buzz out of going to the Omniplex as I did going to the Cineplex.

Although a part of that is down to digital projection as opposed to 35mm projection I think, just doesn't have the same magic to it.

I'm actually quite saddened by the impending demolition of the old place - a huge part of my childhood is literally going to be torn down.

The old Capitol Cinema

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