Odeon Anniesland

CSWalczak on October 31, 2012 at 2:10 am

A picture of the theatre as the Gaumont can be seen here.

garypainter on September 6, 2004 at 11:03 am

The Picture House is actually the name for the housing development on this site, the cinema itself was never called this – it opened as The Ascot in 1939, designed by Charles McNair, with seating for 1,963 patrons. Over the years, it changed names to Gaumont, then Odeon. It closed in 1975 to become bingo, and lay derelict for a spell before the redevelopment.

Although award-winning, the redevelopment has actually left very little of the orginal cinema intact. Only the small, twin-towered foyer block remains, behind which lie a few flats. The rest of the flats were built in a seperate block just behind the facade, where the auditorium once was. No trace of the auditorium remains, which is truly a great loss, since it was an excellent example of a suburban super. In fact, so little of the original building remains that one has to wonder what the point of affording it statutory protection was – this destruction took place despite the cinema being Grade B listed by Historic Scotland.

For an idea of how the original cinema appeared, and photographs of the demoliton and redevelopment, go to:

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