The Ballroom of Romance
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Where: Unknown
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When: 01 August 1925
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The vast expanse of the Atlantic dance hall in Tramore, Co. Waterford - presumably in the Atlantic Hotel? Trying to imagine it at night, swirling with romantic possibilities, broken hearts, hair cream, and trodden-on toes.
Photographer: A. H. Poole
Collection: Poole Photographic Studio, Waterford
Date: Circa August 1925
NLI Ref: POOLEWP 3317
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
Source: Flickr Commons
Views: 17565
Photographer: A. H. Poole
Collection: Poole Photographic Studio, Waterford
Date: Circa August 1925
NLI Ref: POOLEWP 3317
You can also view this image, and many thousands of others, on the NLI’s catalogue at catalogue.nli.ie
Info:
Owner: National Library of Ireland on The CommonsSource: Flickr Commons
Views: 17565
ahpoole
arthurhenripoole
august
1925
1920s
nationallibraryofireland
atlanticdancehall
dancehall
tramore
waterford
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managhansband
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O Mac
Building extant. Strand Rd maps.app.goo.gl/tdJ4dYcJw6iagdV97
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
Chinese theme night? Ed. No! The chinese lamps were featured in the café too - catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000593909
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
W. A. Manahan's Band Dance card from 1917 - www.irish-showbands.com/images/liamo/lrxdancecardb.jpg via www.irish-showbands.com/ballrooms.htm
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
The building of the Atlantic Dance Hall is still there - www.irish-showbands.com/images/halls/atlantic-tramore-ggx... dashes off to streetview .... Ed. And [https://www.flickr.com/photos/91549360@N03] was there first!
Niall McAuley
Atlantic Hall is marked on the 6" Cassini map from the 30s. The site is now an amusement arcade in streetview. The interior plaster details on show match todays exterior, and there is an exterior Poole shot POOLEWP 3318 which shows the modern building is a conversion of the hall. Looks new in that exterior shot.
ɹǝqɯoɔɥɔɐǝq
Sometimes Flickr is A M A Z I N G ! Via [https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamestebay81/] [https://www.flickr.com/photos/jamestebay81/5495407436/] And the exterior via [https://www.flickr.com/photos/33577523@N08/] [https://www.flickr.com/photos/33577523@N08/6865288993/]Compare with catalogue.nli.ie/Record/vtls000593908
Niall McAuley
On the 25th August 1922, there is a story in the Waterford News and Star titled THE ATLANTIC HALL TRAMORE OPENING TO-NIGHT
Niall McAuley
I think there is a paragraph in the same paper on the 14th July 1922 which mentions the new and splendid hall and Manahan's band. Perhaps someone with actual access to the newspaper archives could check?
Foxglove
Gad! this is more fun than real dancin' , I can just smell the brylcream Mrs Doyle
Niall McAuley
There was also a café: POOLEWP 3319, which served Molino sherry and Jacobs biscuits.
derangedlemur
https://www.flickr.com/photos/beachcomberaustralia Elbows up! And stand closer; you could drive a bus through there! ...as my dancing teacher used to always shout at me. I never danced in Tramore, though.
Niall McAuley
https://www.flickr.com/photos/beachcomberaustralia Wow, the lanterns and hanging bouquets look identical in that tuxedo pic, I think it might be painted over this actual photo.
sharon.corbet
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley I don't have access to those articles, but I found an ad in the Dublin Evening Telegraph from 1924 calling it "Piper's Atlantic Dance Hall, Tramore, The Largest in Ireland" and mentioning Manahan's band.
Niall McAuley
Per the irishshowbands dot com page, it closed in 1978.
Niall McAuley
Waterford County Museum credits the tuxedo pic to Poole and co. Their larger image includes the band at right and an (obscured) Poole copyright notice bottom right corner.
sharon.corbet
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley] Oh, wait, I forgot that Waterford Libraries has a load of papers digitised: The one on 25th August is just saying that the Atlantic is open as usual that night. (P5) The 14th July article is a bit longer: TRAMORE DANCE HALL After surmounting various obstacles on the journey, Mr. Manahan and the members of his well-known band reached Tramore yesterday safe and sound from the metropolis to take up duty at the Atlantic Hall — the new and splendid dancing- hall just erected by Mrs. Piper. There was a big company again at the dance there last night. (P7).
Niall McAuley
Per this Primary school history page, there were special trains from and to Waterford, you could get a combined ticket and the train back as late as 3.45 am! You can see on the 6" map linked earlier that it is a short stumble from the hall back to the station, even in heels. (I checked with google maps - 220 meters)
sharon.corbet
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley] Here's the grown-ups version of that page: "These so-called 'Dance Trains' have been described as "a right romantic affair" by those who remember them. Many exhausted dancers took the last train back to Waterford, where the station staff added a touch of romance by leaving the carriages in darkness. The last dance train ran on August 23rd 1960."
Niall McAuley
[https://www.flickr.com/photos/scorbet] Good find on the Waterford News papers online! Page 5 on the 30th June 1922 has: Tramore's Atlantic Dance Hall Successful Opening Last Night So the hall opened in June 1922 and closed in 1978. There is a lot of civil war news in those papers, even the dance hall was not immune: Unfortunately the inaugural event was hampered to the extent that the members of Mr. W.A. Manahan's Dublin band were unable, owing to the exigencies of the times, to travel to Tramore
O Mac
Another Belfast truss roof.
Niall McAuley
That Opening Night article also gives the dimensions - the dance floor is 50 ft x 80 ft, and accommadates 250 couples. That's as long as a tennis court and one and a half times as wide.
Niall McAuley
This 1929 shot of the station features a prominent ad for dancing, but not at the Atlantic, at the Palace:
sharon.corbet
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley Someone had fun writing that article - "terpsichorean centre"?!
ofarrl
In my day, the late 1970's and early 80's, they had disco's there every week and occasionally Irish bands would play there including Thin Lizzy on one occasion. One of my aunts worked at the ticket office in the 1950's, these are a couple of photos belonging to her that were taken there.
sharon.corbet
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gnmcauley Interestingly, there's an ad in the Irish Times of 7th July 1923, where they are claiming that the Atlantic Dance Hall fits 1000 persons. W.A. Manahan's is also mentioned as a "famous Dublin saxophone band (personally conducted during season".)
suckindeesel
https://www.flickr.com/photos/scorbet The station itself didn't last much longer, closing at the end of 1960
Niall McAuley
http://www.flickr.com/photos/129555378@N07/ 250 couples on the floor is 500, then there's the cafe... or maybe they just revised up based on experience?
John Spooner
New Ross Standard - Friday 19 June 1959. Joe Loss, no less.
ofarrl
www.flickr.com/photos/johnspooner/ Ross McManus was Elvis Costello's father www.discogs.com/artist/266244-Ross-McManus
Niall McAuley
Those 1959 entrance prices convert to about €4 to €6
James Mundie
They might have kept them up out of season, but there's several Halloween-themed lanterns in the rafters with a black cat and jack-o-lantern motif.