The application for church use has been approved. The owners are the owners of another former Edinburgh cinema, the Central in Leith. Recent and archive photographs here:
The building has been closed for a number of years as of March ‘08. Sadly, it now looks very rundown in an area which is in dire need of regeneration. Photograph just prior to closure here:
The building was handed over to Falkirk Council by the contractors on Feb 14th 2008. A gallery of photographs from that day showing the almost finished interior can be found on the following page, as well as a gallery from just prior to the works starting:
The plan to retain the facade is no longer happening, and an application has was submitted in Dec ‘07 to completely demolish the building. As of the start of March '08, the auditorium has been demolished as far back as the balcony front until the decision on the facade is taken. Photo gallery of the demolition here, as well as interior photos taken two years ago, showing the effect of dereliction and asbestos-stripping works. Note in particular the interesting proscenium and the 1920s posters in the roof void.
Oddly enough, it was the Wikipedia entry for Green’s Playhouse which started this, as the person who wrote it quotes Cinema Treasures as the source for Fairweather being involved in both this cinema and the Odeon in Chingford. So it’s all becoming a bit circular – there’s no mention of Fairweather’s involvement in either in Allen Eyle’s Odeon Cinemas Vol I & II, or in the recent copy of Picture House devoted to the Essoldo chain.
Having now seen the interior of the Essoldo Brighton, I can quite happily see that it looks like a Fairweather, although some more solid evidence would be nice! But I still can’t see any stylistic evidence that he was involved in the Odeon Chingford – the very plain auditorium is pictured on p67 of Odeon Cinemas Vol I.
I’m curious – looking at the arrangement of the boxes in Ian’s excellent Flickr shots above, I can see some evidence that the Scottish architect John Fairweather might have been involved, as it is reminiscent of the boxes on some of his Green’s Playhouses – especially Ayr. However, the other link, posted by Ken, attributes the interior to a J Alexandra. Can anyone shed any light on this one? I’m also looking for similar information regarding Fairweather’s involvement with the Chingford Odeon, as indicated by that cinema’s entry on this site. All information greatly appreciated!
The nightclub in the former cinema was short-lived, and the building has been empty for a few years. It has now been reported that a lap-dancing club is to open in the venue, after councillors approved the entertainment licence without knowing what the specific entertainment was!
Good news – after the bingo company moved out, The Alhambra has been purchased by developers who hope to restore and re-open the building as a live theatre by the end of 2008. The project is being overseen by a former director of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. There is going to be an open day on December 1st 2007. Further news on the theatre’s new website here:
An application was made in spring 2007 to demolish the fire-damaged building, with a separate application made to build flats on the site, which is now little more than a brick shell. The small tower above the entrance has already been partially demolished due to structural concerns. The demolition application appears to have been withdrawn as of Nov 2007, although the council planning website indicates that a new application is pending. It is not clear if this will also involve complete demolition of the remains of the cinema.
Updated exterior pics are now available on the link posted above.
A new scheme was passed by Glasgow City Council in November 2007 which involves demolition of the auditorium block, to be replaced by a 9-storey glass tower. The entrance block will apparently be restored to an approximation of its 1934 opening appearance.
Now open as a pub called The Logie Baird, after the town’s famous television pioneer son. The interior sadly is entirely new, and is largely based on the ground floor only. It is not clear whether any original features survive above this.
As a nightclub, the building seems to change names every few years – it was called The Velvet Rooms in the mid-90s, before very briefly being renamed Bed, then Blanket sometime in the early 2000s. Now known as Guru, the interior is subdivided into various rooms, with no trace of the former use as a cinema evident in the public areas at least.
The building’s front and rear facade pre-date the cinema, having seemingly been built as a piano showroom in the 1890s, hence the Beethoven bust. There may be elements of even older 19th-century building between the parallel facades on Sauchiehall and Renfrew Streets. Cinema specialist John Fairweather was responsible only for the cinema conversion in 1912, which was largely internal alterations. The earlier exterior work was by David Paton Low, with later upper floors by Bruce & Hay.
Just as an update, owners City Screen eventually withdrew the planning application to convert the main auditorium into a restaurant/screening area. Without a live planning application, Historic Scotland were then able to upgrade the cinema’s listed building status to from Category C(s) to Category B – being situated in the back court of a tenement, this has effectively upgraded the listing of the entire tenement on the grounds of the cinema auditorium within it. Hopefully, this will better protect the cinema from any future plans to covnert the auditorium for non-cinema use.
Gallery of pics, including some from the final night, can be found here – well worth the long trip from Glasgow, even if the closing film was lacklustre!
This building was sold at auction last year, and is apparently undergoing conversion to a children’s play or nursery facility. Recent fire damage, however, appears to have left a hole in the roof. It is not clear what, if any, of the original interior survives.
We also have a shot which we can’t post on that site which shows a small portion of the original painted section of the atmospheric interior surviving behind the proscenium, thanks to alterations for Cinemascope in the 50s.
Sadly, Gala closed the Lyceum on October 8th 2006, and the building now sports a For Sale sign above the main entrance. A new gallery of interior photographs, including some archive shots, has recently been added to the link posted by Ken above.
Photographs before and after the recent conversion to housing at the bottom of the page here:
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Photographs, including archive interior shots, here:
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Slight correction – the building is listed only at Category C(s). Picture from a few years ago here, as well as other former Rutherglen cinemas:
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The application for church use has been approved. The owners are the owners of another former Edinburgh cinema, the Central in Leith. Recent and archive photographs here:
View link
The building has been closed for a number of years as of March ‘08. Sadly, it now looks very rundown in an area which is in dire need of regeneration. Photograph just prior to closure here:
View link
The building was handed over to Falkirk Council by the contractors on Feb 14th 2008. A gallery of photographs from that day showing the almost finished interior can be found on the following page, as well as a gallery from just prior to the works starting:
View link
It is anticipated that the building will reopen as a cinema later in 2008 – a rare conservation success story in the cinema world!
The plan to retain the facade is no longer happening, and an application has was submitted in Dec ‘07 to completely demolish the building. As of the start of March '08, the auditorium has been demolished as far back as the balcony front until the decision on the facade is taken. Photo gallery of the demolition here, as well as interior photos taken two years ago, showing the effect of dereliction and asbestos-stripping works. Note in particular the interesting proscenium and the 1920s posters in the roof void.
View link
N.B. The building opened in 1921, not 1927 as noted above.
Oddly enough, it was the Wikipedia entry for Green’s Playhouse which started this, as the person who wrote it quotes Cinema Treasures as the source for Fairweather being involved in both this cinema and the Odeon in Chingford. So it’s all becoming a bit circular – there’s no mention of Fairweather’s involvement in either in Allen Eyle’s Odeon Cinemas Vol I & II, or in the recent copy of Picture House devoted to the Essoldo chain.
Having now seen the interior of the Essoldo Brighton, I can quite happily see that it looks like a Fairweather, although some more solid evidence would be nice! But I still can’t see any stylistic evidence that he was involved in the Odeon Chingford – the very plain auditorium is pictured on p67 of Odeon Cinemas Vol I.
I’m curious – looking at the arrangement of the boxes in Ian’s excellent Flickr shots above, I can see some evidence that the Scottish architect John Fairweather might have been involved, as it is reminiscent of the boxes on some of his Green’s Playhouses – especially Ayr. However, the other link, posted by Ken, attributes the interior to a J Alexandra. Can anyone shed any light on this one? I’m also looking for similar information regarding Fairweather’s involvement with the Chingford Odeon, as indicated by that cinema’s entry on this site. All information greatly appreciated!
The nightclub in the former cinema was short-lived, and the building has been empty for a few years. It has now been reported that a lap-dancing club is to open in the venue, after councillors approved the entertainment licence without knowing what the specific entertainment was!
Story here:
View link
Good news – after the bingo company moved out, The Alhambra has been purchased by developers who hope to restore and re-open the building as a live theatre by the end of 2008. The project is being overseen by a former director of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. There is going to be an open day on December 1st 2007. Further news on the theatre’s new website here:
http://www.alhambradunfermline.com/
An application was made in spring 2007 to demolish the fire-damaged building, with a separate application made to build flats on the site, which is now little more than a brick shell. The small tower above the entrance has already been partially demolished due to structural concerns. The demolition application appears to have been withdrawn as of Nov 2007, although the council planning website indicates that a new application is pending. It is not clear if this will also involve complete demolition of the remains of the cinema.
Updated exterior pics are now available on the link posted above.
The club has changed names yet again – as of autumn 2007, it has been known as The Classrooms.
A new scheme was passed by Glasgow City Council in November 2007 which involves demolition of the auditorium block, to be replaced by a 9-storey glass tower. The entrance block will apparently be restored to an approximation of its 1934 opening appearance.
Story and pics here:
View link
View link
Now open as a pub called The Logie Baird, after the town’s famous television pioneer son. The interior sadly is entirely new, and is largely based on the ground floor only. It is not clear whether any original features survive above this.
As a nightclub, the building seems to change names every few years – it was called The Velvet Rooms in the mid-90s, before very briefly being renamed Bed, then Blanket sometime in the early 2000s. Now known as Guru, the interior is subdivided into various rooms, with no trace of the former use as a cinema evident in the public areas at least.
The building’s front and rear facade pre-date the cinema, having seemingly been built as a piano showroom in the 1890s, hence the Beethoven bust. There may be elements of even older 19th-century building between the parallel facades on Sauchiehall and Renfrew Streets. Cinema specialist John Fairweather was responsible only for the cinema conversion in 1912, which was largely internal alterations. The earlier exterior work was by David Paton Low, with later upper floors by Bruce & Hay.
Just as an update, owners City Screen eventually withdrew the planning application to convert the main auditorium into a restaurant/screening area. Without a live planning application, Historic Scotland were then able to upgrade the cinema’s listed building status to from Category C(s) to Category B – being situated in the back court of a tenement, this has effectively upgraded the listing of the entire tenement on the grounds of the cinema auditorium within it. Hopefully, this will better protect the cinema from any future plans to covnert the auditorium for non-cinema use.
Gallery of pics, including some from the final night, can be found here – well worth the long trip from Glasgow, even if the closing film was lacklustre!
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Large gallery of interior pics from our visit in March 2007 here:
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A gallery of photos taken when I visited the building in 2006 can be found here:
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Cambuslang is about 7 miles southeast of Glasgow City Centre.
The Ritz was an ABC cinema. Photos can be found here:
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http://www.edwardboyle.com/EB/cambuslang/Ritz.jpg
This building was sold at auction last year, and is apparently undergoing conversion to a children’s play or nursery facility. Recent fire damage, however, appears to have left a hole in the roof. It is not clear what, if any, of the original interior survives.
A photo of the current exterior, as well as some poor interior shots, here:
View link
We also have a shot which we can’t post on that site which shows a small portion of the original painted section of the atmospheric interior surviving behind the proscenium, thanks to alterations for Cinemascope in the 50s.
Various photos of the cinema, including colour shots of the atmospheric interior whilst on bingo, are here:
View link
The exterior shots in 1975 and 2004 make for a grim and depressing comparison….
Sadly, Gala closed the Lyceum on October 8th 2006, and the building now sports a For Sale sign above the main entrance. A new gallery of interior photographs, including some archive shots, has recently been added to the link posted by Ken above.