Victoria Cinema

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria · Category: Memory · Subcategory: Memory spaces · Year: 1945 · Authors: José Luis Jiménez Domínguez, Antonio Cardona Aragón

This cinema was located in the La Isleta neighbourhood, specifically between Princesa Guayarmina and Saucillo streets.

Although there was an initial project drawn up in 1932 by the architect Miguel Martín-Fernández de la Torre that was never realised, it was after the Civil War, in 1944, when a new architect, this time José Luis Jiménez Domínguez, drafted the definitive project for this cinema for the owner Manuel García Pérez.

Jiménez Domínguez took advantage of the corner to move away from the rationalist principles of Miguel Martín and proposed a façade in a more vernacular style, in keeping with the autarkic times prevailing then. The main façade had four large openings at street level, and on the upper levels the volumes were recessed, giving a sense of lightness. Inside, an auditorium and a balcony distributed a total capacity of 480 people (298 seats on the ground floor and 182 in the upper level).

The Victoria Cinema opened its doors on 20 July 1945 with the screening of the adventure hit The Thief of Bagdad by director Michael Powell, made in 1940, although the building was not yet fully completed. Ticket prices ranged from 6 to 3 pesetas (depending on seat location) plus an additional 0.50 pesetas on holidays.

After the work was definitively completed in 1949, the Victoria Cinema operated as a neighbourhood cinema until the 1960s when it changed ownership. In 1968, an extensive renovation of the building was undertaken by the architect Antonio Cardona. The building was enlarged and improved by annexing an adjoining plot and both its exterior appearance, now with a much more modern design characterised on the façade by horizontal lines and rustication, and the interior, where the capacity increased to 704 seats, were changed.

The new hall was inaugurated on 1 October 1970 with the screening of the film The President by director Barry Shear, made in 1968.

The proliferation of multiplex cinemas and the crisis of large halls in the mid-1980s condemned the Victoria, which closed its doors permanently in September 1994. The building was demolished and replaced by a residential building that retained its name: "Victoria".

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