ABC Bridgeton
14 Orr Street,
Glasgow,
G40 2QH
14 Orr Street,
Glasgow,
G40 2QH
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The building is now complete. Although only the facade remains, it sports a nice illuminated Olympia sign above the entrance, and a display on the building’s history just inside the entrance. It houses Bridgeton Library and a cafe on the ground floor, with offices above – including the home of Scotland’s amateur boxing and wrestling associations. The library also houses Scotland’s first BFI Mediatheque, where the public can view a vast selection of BFI archive material, as well as films from the Scottish Screen Archive – so another nice cinema connection.
I live a five minute walk from this old cinema , which was once a music hall in 1911, Ive been following the demolition of the insides of the hall in the past two years and the reconstruction if anyone wants to see the photos.. I have many even of the old cupola coming down and the new one going up into postion.. I also asked permission fur myself and some amateur photographers to go in and see the men at work on this massive project and we were granted access two months ago to go in and take photos… we were right on top of the bulding on the scaffolding..and will be at the opening dae in early October..
Have loaded pictures of better times
“had a seating capacity of 2,000 in stalls and dress circle”
I am pretty sure that there was originally two balconies in the 1911 theatre – the descriptions specify two tiers of balcony above stalls and circle which I suspect were two separated areas of the same tier. It would also be unusual for a Matcham theatre of this period to have just a stalls and a single circle. Much, but not all, of the stage area was incorporated into the auditorium in the 1938 rebuild so the drop in capacity makes no sense given that the auditorium space was increased, unless it went from a 3 level to a 2 level theatre.
Two further photos can be seen on flickr, taken during demolition in June 2011
EXTERIOR PHOTO
AUDITORIUM PHOTO
Demolition is well under-way in June 2011. The façade will be preserved.
Photos, including an explore of the badly water-damaged 1930s interior shortly before the 2004 fire, can be found here:
View link
The planning application to convert the building to flats expires later this year (2008), and the building is once again on the open market, perhaps as a result of the successful bid Glasgow made for the 2014 Commonwealth Games – many of the venues and events will take place in the regenerated east end of the city where the cinema is located, currently a very rundown area.
A photograph of the ABC Bridgeton taken in October 2005, almost a year after the fire:
http://flickr.com/photos/dickyhart/50896641/
A photograph of one of the current occupants of the building:
http://flickr.com/photos/monkeyiron/376622738/