When York's Fairfax House was St George's cinema

Today, anyone visiting Fairfax House, the impressive Georgian museum in the heart of York, might be taken aback to discover that it was once turned into a cinema!

Originally built in 1732 for Viscount Fairfax and designed by York architect John Carr, by 1921 the building had fallen on hard times and had passed through a number of hands and seen several changes of use before it was bought by St George's Hall Entertainments for conversion into a cinema.

The St George's Hall was opened as a cinema on March 7 1921 with Three Men in a Boat.

The new cinema had oak-panelled walls, stalls and a circle - with the projection box located behind the stalls and under the circle. There was also a large ballroom and café on the first floor of Fairfax House.

The plaque marking where St George's cinema was in Castlegate, York

The cinema was eventually closed by the Rank organisation in 1965. The final film shown there is reported to have been Cleopatra, starring Elizabeth Taylor.

The building was bought by the city council, and was used by a dancing school for many years. It was restored to its full Georgian glory in the 1980s by York Civic Trust, with the help of several grants, and with the addition of Noel Terry's collection of elegant Georgian furniture was transformed into the Georgian museum that it is today.

Do you remember St George's cinema? Share your memories - and any old photos - with us in our nostalgia group on Facebook, Why We Love York - Memories.