Thalia filmtheater

English translation

The text above is the record as published by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed, in Dutch. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Rijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed; it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

Introduction

The former CINEMA with SHOPS, named Thalia is situated on the northeastern corner of Kruiskade and Lijnbaan, and built in the period 1953-1955 on behalf of Maatschappij Tuschinski N.V. according to the design of architect Hendriks from the Rotterdam office J.P.L. Hendriks, W. van der Sluys and L.A. van den Bosch. The interior design and colour scheme of the exterior came about under the supervision of interior architect W. Schuhmacher. Together with work by artists Dirk Hubers, Jan van Keulen, M. Mascherini and Nico Wijnberg, a building has been created that can be regarded as a gesamtkunstwerk. Due to its location on the Lijnbaan, the building fell within the urban development concept for this shopping street. For that reason, the Urban Development department requested that a number of shops be included in the building plan, so that the continuous row of shops along the Lijnbaan would not be interrupted. The same happened with the cinema Lumière opposite. The client for the construction of Thalia was the cinema concern of the late Abraham Tuschinski; a Polish emigrant who got stuck in Rotterdam on his way to America and worked here to realise his 'American dream'. The pre-war Thalia cinema on the Hoogstraat, destroyed during the bombing of 14 May 1940, was the first cinema where Tuschinski realised his internationally renowned ideas about the layout and operation of cinemas and paved the way for the construction of the famous Tuschinski theatre in Amsterdam. Tuschinski and his brothers-in-law and partners Gerschtanowitz and Ehrlich perished in German concentration camps. Thalia was rebuilt after the war by the successors of the concern, entirely in the spirit of Tuschinski with all the attendant attention to interior and artistic applications. The assignment consisted of a film theatre with 800 seats without stage or stage floor. Various versions preceded the definitive design, in which particular study was devoted to the location of the entrance and the execution of the facade on the Kruiskade. Three artists, H. Noorlander, W. Reijers and N. Kneulman, were asked to design a decoration scheme for the closed wall surface on the Kruiskade. The expressive design of Kneulman was the most convincing for client, architect and Urban Development. For the realisation of this sculpture, a substantial adjustment of the design was necessary, whereby no longer the entrance but the artwork would serve as an eye-catcher. The first pile for Thalia was driven on 22 June 1954 by a grandson of the deceased Gerschtanowitz. The opening took place on 7 July 1955 in the presence of many (inter)national guests from the film world. The cinema would serve for just over forty years. The last film was shown on 27 March 1996. Since that day, a number of original parts of the building have disappeared, such as the neon-lit, classical lettering with the name Thalia on the roof above the entrance and the freestanding display cases for film announcements behind the glazed shop front on the Lijnbaan and the flagpoles. Rotterdam municipality had originally purchased the cinema to demolish it. After the revaluation of post-war architecture took hold, the building was placed on the municipal monument list. After a period of vacancy, the building was renovated in 2000 by architects Barkema & Reijnen. Among other things, the entrance hall, foyer and the first shop were merged into a café. The seats were removed from the hall to create a free space. At the time of designation, the premises function split between the cinema hall on the one hand and the hall and foyer on the other. These spaces are now (2009) being brought back as much as possible to their original layout, following a period of less respectful use. Various interior components have disappeared, such as the carpet from the foyer and the runners in the cinema hall.

Description

The CINEMA BUILDING with SHOPS is located on an irregular, trapezium-shaped plot. The trapezium form has been adopted for the actual cinema hall which, as the highest, enclosed building component, forms the core of the building. Along the south side are the supplementary spaces, the hall, foyer, office rooms and projection booth, and the shops on the west side as somewhat lower, shallow building volumes. The entire building is basementted and is closed off by flat roofs. The transparent entrance section of anodised aluminium is situated on the southwestern corner at the intersection of Lijnbaan and Kruiskade. The architectural accent further lies on the curved facade along the Kruiskade with on the dark-coloured concrete slabs the relief executed in green ornamental concrete by Carel Kneulman, depicting the muse Thalia in the midst of an abstract, dynamic play of lines. This whole is characterised by wall surfaces that are offset both in height and depth, material (concrete slabs, glazed brick, Serpentino) and colour (light and dark grey). Alternating open and closed surfaces have been used. Protruding concrete parts are supported by gravel concrete square pillars. The pavement is laid with square quartz slabs. The transition between the entrance section on the corner and the west facade is marked by a chimney built up to above the roofline. This facade lies on the building line. The shops, which as a lower volume lean against the cinema part, have the same height as the remaining buildings on the Lijnbaan. Between the masonry partition walls of black, glazed brick five shop fronts are placed. The fronts, on plinths of black granite, have large display windows on the ground floor. On the upper storey a more closed layout on a continuous, slightly protruding parapet of vertical, light grey artificial stone panels with a rough finished surface. The facade is closed off by a concrete roof edge. The corner of the east facade projects slightly forward as a continuation of the south facade with a high continuous window over all storeys. Then the facade steps back and the almost completely closed side facade of the cinema hall is seen. Along the upper side a decorative rim of concrete elements has been applied. Also located here is a built-out emergency exit. The short north facade borders on an alley between Thalia and the adjacent Hilton hotel and is almost completely hidden from view.

The main layout of the theatre interior, although modified, is still recognisable. Apart from spaces such as toilets, office and cloakroom, there are three main rooms, the box office hall, the foyer and the cinema hall. From the box office hall, the foyer is entered. Here the curved rear wall of the hall presents itself. In the middle of it is the access of three double doors to the hall which is entered via stairs. In the high box office hall, the glazed brick of the facade is continued in part. Besides it a lambrisering of vertical natural stone strips on a quartz plinth, with which the floor is also paved. The use of materials contributes to easing the transition from outside to inside. The ceiling is furnished with a large, spiral and rotating light crown, executed in polished metal with small light bulbs ('Sputnik lamp'). The foyer follows the convex shape of the cinema. The long wall is provided with panels covered in parchment set in a brass border. In the middle in front of the wall stood originally on a plinth the bronze figurine 'the singing man' by Marcello Mascherini (now in possession of Pathé Cinemas, Amsterdam). Around the place of this figurine on the parchment wall an oval of small, round gold-stamped motifs. The remaining panels are here and there furnished with stylised, fish-shaped gold-stamped motifs. On the wall next to the vestibule, opposite the hall doors, the names of the fallen founders of Thalia are inscribed in copper letters: Abraham Tuschinski, Herman Gerschtanowitz and Herman Ehrlich. Opposite the parchment wall are the hall doors, upholstered with red leather and on the hall side with walnut. On either side ceramic panels with an abstract decoration, designed by Dick Hubers. The most special feature of the foyer is the lowered ceiling which hangs in the space like a sloping and canopy-like construction. The ceiling camouflages the overlying, steeply sloping hall. Two round columns with a 'fluted' finish break through the ceiling and support the hall floor. The vaulted ceiling is covered with alternating broad bands of brown zebrawood and narrow bands of dark-coloured coromandel wood; in it round spotlights with brass rims. The cinema hall has an ideal trapezium shape. The hall is divided into two sections: hall and boxes. The sloping floor increases in gradient towards the rear. The entrance to the hall was in the middle between the boxes. The boxes are separated by a wooden lambrisering. All woodwork insofar as still present in the hall is executed in walnut or stained walnut colour. The walls of the hall are furnished with various decorative elements, which have meanwhile partly disappeared behind later boarding. From front to back these are respectively: an abstract inlay lambrisering in various colours and thicknesses of linoleum (provided with Krommenie logo) according to the design of Nico Wijnberg. Above it vertical wall surfaces with the names of famous directors from film history in relief. At the level of the cross gangway large, figurative sgraffitos in three colours according to the design of Jan van Keulen. The rear parts of the side walls are furnished with a design executed in relief with a bird motif, also according to the design of Van Keulen. Van Keulen also designed the fabric appliqués on the movable panels for the projection screen. The ceiling of the hall is of dark grey hardboard. The lighting consists of a star-shaped wreath of various fittings with a total of seventy light points, supplied by Indoor from Amsterdam.

Valuation

The former Thalia CINEMA with SHOPS is an essential exemplar of early Post-war Reconstruction from 1940 and of general importance because of:

- cultural-historical value because of the commemorative value regarding the bombing and post-war reconstruction of Rotterdam, as well as as an expression of the history of entertainment (cinema world) in particular connected with the 'Tuschinsky empire';

- architectural-historical value as an example of a forceful architectural design in modern Post-war Reconstruction style by architects J.P.L. Hendriks, W. van der Sluys and L.A. van den Bosch and interior architect Schuhmacher, making use of a rich application of monumental art (Carel Kneulman, Nico Wijnberg, Jan van Keulen, Dick Hubers) special detailing and alternating use of materials in the execution as a whole to be characterised as a gesamtkunstwerk;

- urban development value through its corner location with a deliberately designed relationship to the Lijnbaan.