Alhambra Cinema

Located in the Leith district of Edinburgh. The Alhambra Theatre was opened 26th December 1914 as a ‘Theatre of Varieties’. It was designed by Leith based architect J.M. Johnston in a Neo-Classical style, with Doric columns on the façade above the centrally placed entrance. The auditorium was decorated in an Adam style and had a barrel ceiling, a central dome and the seating capacity was for 1,550. The proscenium was 26 feet wide, the stage 22 feet deep and there were twenty dressing rooms and a projection box. In March 1915 it began playing cine-variety programmes.

The Alhambra Cinema was one of the first cinemas in the area to install a Western Electric(WE) sound system, and screened its first ‘talkie’ “Two Weeks Off” starring Dorothy Macall and Jack Millhall on 5th August 1929. The Alhambra Cinema was never equipped for CinemaScope and was closed on 8th March 1958 with Tony Martin in “Frontier Scout” and Bud Abbott & Lou Costello in “Dance With Me Henry”. The building was boarded up and was demolished in 1974.

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