The Abbeydale Picture House on Abbeydale Road in Sheffield, opened on 20 December 1920, when it was the largest and most luxurious cinema in Sheffield, often referred to as the “Picture Palace” because of the luxurious cream and gold colour scheme. The cinema had seating for 1,560 people and also included a ballroom and a billiard hall. The cinema closed on 5 July 1975 and was subsequently used as an office furniture showroom until 1991. Over a decade later some conservation work began, and CADS took on the lease in January 2017 with the aim to continue the long-term restoration of the building.

The main auditorium ceiling is hung off fabricated steel roof trusses which carry timber purlins and a roof above and ceiling joists and plaster below. The steel trusses carry timber ceiling principal joists at approximately 600 mm centres. Fibrous plaster cast panels have been nailed to the underside of these ceiling joists with some support from hessian only reinforced wads.