Capitol Cinema

In the late 1920s, the Capitol Cinema in Lauchstädter Straße offered visitors a sophisticated programme and a touch of glamour. Designed by architect Walter Thurm, the two-storey, 700-seat cinema is a functional stucco building with Expressionist details, set back from the road. The lively design of the foyer’s façade with its side towers and bands of windows with zigzag glazing bars gives the building a grille-like appearance and makes it almost transparent. This expressive use of form is continued on the inside with stucco moulding, bold wall decoration and art deco murals. An example of so-called ‘nocturnal architecture’, the Capitol really comes into its own in the dark, when the grille-like architecture lets out the light from the foyer and illuminates it from the inside.