Picture House

In the east Ayrshire town of Cumnock, the Picture House was one of two cinemas owned privately by a Mrs Ward, who had inherited them from her father (the other was in nearby Auchinleck). It was the first purpose-built cinema in the area, opening around 1913 (although some sources suggest as early as 1910).

Originally advertised for both cinema and variety, it looked like a barn with the original frontage comprising a neat three-sided shaped sandstone façade with two circular windows on either side of a large curved top window.

The projection room started life as a separate add-on room on the roof of the original entrance frontage. Access to the projection booth was via a ladder through a hatch in the ceiling of the foyer. In 1920 the original projector was replaced with two all electric projectors. These were supplied with all their electricity needs from a generator situated at the back of the building.

In the 1930’s the building had a major refurbishment, including a rebuilt new front façade that incorporated the old projection room and covered the whole front of building. New Kalee 11 projectors with sound on disc were also installed.

In 1949 the systems were re-equipped, this time with Kalee KT21 fully enclosed projectors. A Westrex sound system, Kalee 60w amp and Westinghouse 80 amp arc rectifier were also installed. In 1956 these were modified to handle CinemaScope. The Kalee 21s stayed in service until the end of the cinema shows in 1980.

In the early-1960s a completely new three coloured vertical stripe asbestos type cladding was put on the upper half of the façade, the lower half being painted with horizontal stripes. It is this decoration that is still visible on the exterior today.

The interior changed little over the years, and was all on one level. What was called the balcony consisted of the top 12 rows of seats above the cross aisle. Access was from two side door entrances, whilst the two hallways continued into the stalls.

The stalls were two blocks of seats with a central aisle, separated from balcony by a wooden separator and a row of seats. The front stalls were six rows of seats with wooden-backed separator.

In 1973 the film shows began to alternate with bingo sessions, before films completely ended in 1980. It became a bingo club which was closed by 2015.

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