Gaumont Hamilton
Keith Street,
Hamilton,
ML3
Keith Street,
Hamilton,
ML3
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Additional Info
Previously operated by: Gaumont-British-Picture Corp., Ltd., Rank Organisation, Thomas Ormiston
Architects: James McKissack
Previous Names: La Scala Cinema
Nearby Theaters
The La Scala Cinema opened in March 1927. It was built for and was operated by the Thomas Ormiston chain.
The façade of the cinema has a central white faience feature, with Egyptian style pillars flanking the recessed entrance, which has a street pay-box. There is a brick tower on each side of the building and these are topped by open wooden ‘belltowers’ which have pyramid shaped roofs. Inside the auditorium, the decoration was rather plain. There was a barrel-shaped ceiling and plaster mouldings surrounding the proscenium arch.
The La Scala Cinema was taken over by Denman/Gaumont British Cinemas Ltd. in March 1928. It was re-named Gaumont by Circuit Management Association(CMA) on 10th April 1950 and was closed by the Rank Organisation on 5th November 1960.
It was converted into a bingo club, last known as the Vogue Bingo Club which closed in 1997. The building became increasingly derelict and the auditorium was demolished in 2008. The façade has been retained and will serve as an entrance to a new entertainment centre which will be built on the site.
This happened despite the building being designated a Grade B Listed building by Historic Scotland on 19th September 1979.
Contributed by
Ken Roe
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
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.
Four places called Hamilton appear in the drop-down menu in our search box, but for some reason this Hamilton is not among them. I only found this page for the Gaumont Hamilton from its link on the page for the architect. Maybe that’s why it hasn’t gotten any comments in more than four years.
This web forum page features several more exterior and interior photos of the Vogue Bingo Club from around the time of its demolition.
Today, the drop-down menu in the search box features ten places called Hamilton, but this Hamilton is still missing. What has JavaScript got against Scotland?