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There are few companies in the Western world that have had a tougher love affair with cinema than Glasgow.
In fact, it’s no wonder our city once had more user-friendly rooms than anywhere else in North America.
If we go back to the days before each and every family boasted of having a TV, it turns out that there is almost a cinema in each and every corner of our Dear Green Place.
For many Glasgowers, there is nothing bigger than an adventure in the photos and, boy, we were blessed with brilliant places.
At the height of cinema structure in the decade leading up to World War II, Glasgow’s cinematic romance peaked, with the city opening up some of the most striking architectural temples built especially for cinema that can be discovered in the British Isles.
Inventive operators have invented exotic and grandiose names for their new cinemas; names that would go up, like La Scala, Olympia and Paramount.
However, in just over a generation, the golden age of cinema began to fade. Dozens of venues in the city began to suffer from the drop in attendance and, later, the festival of high-tech multiplexes that are not unusual today.
While many of Glasgow’s most beloved cinemas, many dressed in art deco styles and other elaborate designs, have now disappeared with the wind, some have survived, having discovered a new life.
Grab some popcorn and get off for today’s main feature film, as we take a closer look at nine lost Glasgow cinemas that have disappeared but haven’t been forgotten.
Odeon, Renfield Street
Opened as Paramount in 1934, this landmark of the centre marked a novelty in the architecture of cinema in Glasgow.
Later, renamed under the banner of Odeon, the cinema survived the carnage of the 1960s and 1970s and was transformed into a three-screen venue.
This much-loved cinema was controlled until 2006.
While its 2,800-seat auditorium was razed to the ground in 2013, the main façade of the former Odeon on Renfield Street is still there.
However, the old cinema is in the Scottish Register of Buildings at Risk, with long-term use for surviving elements of the construction that have yet to be found.
Gaumont Cinema, Sauchiehall Street
An incredibly popular position at its peak, as we can see from the long tail of our stock photo, the Gaumont opened in 1910 as a Picture House and was built in the design of an old warehouse.
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With a seat for 1,600 spectators, the aisle demolished in the 1970s. The façade has been preserved as a front to the Savoy Center.
La Scala, Sauchiehall Street
Staying on Sauchiehall Street, we headed to La Scala, which, like the Gaumont, was also built on an existing warehouse. One of the first cinemas in the city, it opened in 1912 and can accommodate about 1,000 people. , the cinema reopened as a Waterstones bookstore.
Riddrie Cinema, Cumbernauld Road
One of the examples of art deco in Glasgow, the Riddrie cinema opened in 1938 and can only accommodate 1,700 paying spectators.
Later, renamed Vogue Cinema, it was last screened in 1968 and has been a bingo venue ever since.
Olympia Cinema, Bridgeton Cross
With an interior designed through famed British entertainment designer Frank Matcham, the Olympia was originally a theatre, opened in 1911.
The iconic venue remodeled into a cinema in 1938 and functioned as such for 40 years before installing a bingo hall.
Considerable chimneys and water damage were suffered as a result of a chimney in the former Olympia in 2004, however, the construction has since been remodelled and remains one of bridgeton Cross’s architectural focal points.
High School, Govan Road
Built on the site of the Lyceum Theatre, which had been destroyed by fire, this elegant look must have looked like it came straight out of the pages of a science fiction novel when it opened in December 1938. to come with a bingo corridor, the Liceo closed as a cinema in 1981 and continued as a bingo corridor until 2006.
Ambitious plans to renovate the former high school and reopen it into a cinema, concert hall and dining venue were rejected this year through Glasgow City Hall.
Western Cinema, Dumbarton Road
With a striking Moorish-style entrance, the Western on Dumbarton Road opened as Garrick Cinema in 1916, the popular venue was remodeled in the 1920s and its capacity increased from 900 to 1200, while Western closed in 1966 and was demolished thirteen years later.
Imperial Cinema, Govan Road
A Cessnock icon, the Imperial Cinema opened in 1921, but deeply renovated in the 1950s after a fire. The venue is now home to the Grand Ole Opry, the city’s best-known hangover for country and western fans.
Vogue Cinema, Knightswood
Unfortunately demolished in 1960, the Vogue Cinema seemed to have been imported directly from the inner deepest part of Andalusia, opened in 1928 and was called Boulevard Picture House.
There is no sign of the position with the architecture.