OXFORD’S oldest cinema, the Ultimate Picture Palace, is in the spotlight after securing one of the city’s very own ‘Oscars.’ The cinema in Jeune Street, East Oxford, was among the award winners at the Oxford Preservation Trust Awards, recognising the best of the city’s buildings and conservation schemes. The Ultimate Picture Palace landed a small projects award for its £20,000 revamp.

Cinema owner Becky Hallsmith said: “I am thrilled.

“When you have tried hard to do the right thing for a listed building, it is nice to have recognition from a body like Oxford Preservation Trust.

“There was some building work but essentially it is a lighting scheme which has greatly enhanced the Art Deco features of the building, which is the oldest cinema still open in Oxford.”

The winners at the 2013 OPT Awards, presented on Tuesday, came in all shapes and sizes.

Two churches, one new and one recorded in the Domesday Book in 1086, were among the evening’s big winners.

The stunning Edward King Chapel at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, having narrowly missed out on a national Stirling Prize, picked up one of the three OPT awards for best new buildings.

“The beech and ash wood chapel with curved laminated columns was designed by Niall McLaughlin Architects, who accepted the challenge to create “not just a building but a work of art, and one which would touch the spirit.”

The church serves the college five miles outside Oxford, where generations of men and women have trained for ordination.

In the Building Conservation section, there was a clean sweep for university schemes.

Restoration work at one of Oxford’s most iconic buildings, the University Church of St Mary the Virgin in High Street, secured a plaque for a project that saw virtually all the stonework cleaned, repaired or replaced. It involved repairs to the famous spire and tower as well as the church interior.

The Grade I listed building was given a £3.4m Heritage Lottery Fund grant for the work, including an educational programme.

The church attracts almost 300,000 visitors a year.

Magdalen College received a conservation award for work at college cloisters, with the same honour going to the Radcliffe Humanities Building.

This involved the refurbishment of the former Radcliffe Infirmary, built in 1770.

A very different hospital initiative at the John Radcliffe, involving a wall painting by the celebrated artist Michael Craig-Martin took a Small Projects Award. The Kids Wall is an expansive painting in the children’s hospital.

Among schemes to win certificates were Bill’s Restaurant created in Northgate Hall in St Michael’s Street; the Sheldonian Theatre in Broad Street for its new flooring; and Gee’s restaurant in North Oxford for the restoration of the Victorian conservatory.

Debbie Dance, director of the Oxford Preservation Trust said: “The awards are OPT’s opportunity to give prominent local recognition to projects, large and small.

“They illustrate the vital role that positive design has across our community and how improvements to our physical environment shape the city.”

The OPT Environmental Awards, sponsored by Kemp and Kemp are now in their 36th year.

The panel of judges was chaired by architectural historian Prof Malcolm Airs, an OPT trustee, who presented the awards on Tuesday at the Garden Quadrangle at St John’s College.

Kemp & Kemp partner, Steven Sensecall, said. “This year has seen strong competition.

“Oxford is a special place and the city is very lucky to have landowners, developers and institutions that continue to bring forward buildings of such high quality.”

 

OPT AWARDS 2013 IN FULL

Building Conservation

  • Plaques: University Church of St Mary The Virgin; The Radcliffe Humanities Building; and the restoration of the Magdalen College Cloisters.
  • Certificates: Bill’s Restaurant, Northgate Hall; Gees, Banbury Road; 20 Norham Gardens; and flooring in the Sheldonian Theatre.

New Building

  •  Plaques: The Edward King Chapel, Ripon College, Cuddesdon; Gateway Buildings, St Antony’s College; and new Buildings Project at Pembroke College
  •  Certificates: Harriet Monsell House, Ripon College, Cuddesdon; The West Wing of Said Business School second phase; EF International, Pullens Lane, Headington Hill; St Peter’s Church Rooms, Upper Wolvercote; Student Accommodation at Somerville College.

 Small Projects

  • Plaques: The Ultimate Picture Palace and the Kids wall painting at the John Radcliffe Hospital.
  • Certificates: Oxford City Centre Pedestrian Wayfinding Signage; and the ramp access in Tom Quad, Christ Church, Oxford