Royal Theater Heerlen

Royal Theater
Royal Theater Heerlen
General information
Architectural style	International Style
Town or city	Heerlen
Country	The Netherlands
Construction started	1937
Completed	1938
Client	&
Design and construction
Architect	Frits Peutz & J. Bongaerts

Situated close to the Heerlen train station, this egg shaped building dates back to 1938 and was one of the oldest cinemas of the Netherlands.^[1] It was designed by Frits Peutz (best known for the Glaspaleis) and J. Bongaerts. The buildings behind it are from a later date and include another building by Peutz (, 1958).

It originally had 1180 seats^[2] (some sources say 814,^[3] but 1180 is more likely); this amount was later reduced by almost half for more leg room, leaving 743 seats^[1]).

History[]

In 1903 , who ran a funfair company, decided to start a traveling cinema besides his other attractions. He stopped running the cinema, however, to concentrate on his funfair attractions. Twenty years later he left his company to his sons , and . They saw little profit in running a funfair company and, in 1931, switched to running cinemas for good. In 1932 they built their first cinema, a huge success, in Roermond. Heerlen, a booming mine city, seemed a good place to run another cinema, although there were already a substantial number of cinemas in downtown Heerlen (Stadschouwburg, , and ^[4]), but since they all belonged to the same owner (, a company owned by and his brother ^[4]) the Nederlands Bioscoopbond allowed a new cinema in Heerlen.^[2]

While the Hollandia theater was being renovated the building of the Royal started; the Royal has to become the most beautiful and biggest cinema in Limburg. After a building period of 100 days, the Royal Theater opened its doors on January 29, 1938, and surpassed the Hollandia Theater, which had reopened two weeks earlier, in size.^[2]

References[]

Coordinates: 50°53′23″N 5°58′31″E / 50.88984°N 5.97534°E / 50.88984; 5.97534

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