Dome Cinema
| Dome Cinema, Worthing | |
|---|---|
 |
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| General information | |
| Architectural style | Edwardian |
| Town or city | Worthing |
| Country | England, UK |
| Construction started | 1910 |
| Completed | 1911 |
| Client | Carl Adolf Seebold |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | Theophilus Arthur Allen |
The Dome Cinema, Worthing, West Sussex, England, is a grade II* listed building owned by the Worthing Dome & Regeneration Trust. Then trust leases parts of the building to three separate businesses; the Dome Cinema, which has two screens and a Projectionist's Bar, Alfresco Services who have two function rooms and the cafe at the front of the building, and the Tourist Information Centre. It has closed for refurbishment several times, most recently between December 2005 and July 2007. The name derives from the distinctive dome on top of a three-storey tower over the entrance.
The Dome is an Edwardian building and one of the oldest working cinemas in England, and was opened in 1911 (Brighton's Duke of York's Picture House was opened in 1910). It was opened by Swiss impresario Carl Adolf Seebold. It was originally named The Kursaal — a German word translating as "cure hall". The Kursaal was used as a health centre and entertainment complex by visitors to the seaside town. At the time it contained the Coronation Hall, which was used for roller skating, exhibitions, concerts and events, and the Electric Theatre, the first cinema run for paying audiences in West Sussex.
Following the outbreak of World War I leading residents of the town objected to the German name and after a competition with a prize of £1, the Cinema was renamed "The Dome".
Carl Adolf Seebold moved to Worthing in 1904, from Southend where his family had lived for several years. Seebold acquired the site of the future Dome in 1906.
Seebold began construction of the Kursaal in 1910, after he hired Theophilus Arthur Allen as architect for the sum of £4000. Similar businesses enterprises that functioned as both health spas and entertainment complexes existed on the Continent that were also named Kursaal and Seebold, originally Swiss, was presumably aware of these and used them as a road map for his enterprise.
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