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Summary

Description

A purpose-built cinema designed by architects Wilson and Tait in 1913 with a mid-20^th century addition to the east elevation, possibly by the same architects. It is designed in the Scots Renaissance style with a single storey decorative entrance elevation and three storey hall style auditorium behind. The building is prominently set in the town centre of Grangemouth location next to a number of public buildings.

The seven-bay, single storey entrance block is a near symmetrical, and has paired two-storey ogee-roofed outer pavilions. The central entrance has a panel above inscribed 'Empire Electric Theatre' surmounted by ornate 17^th century Scots Renaissance style scrolled and finialled swan-neck pediment. The bays are divided by moulded pilasters with obelisk-finials above the parapet and have tripartite openings with moulded margins and cills. The outer pavilions have moulded door pieces with broken segmental-arched pediments containing tablet-stones, giant composite-order corner pilasters and tripartite windows at eaves level. The entrance block is built in Scotch-bond red brick with sandstone ashlar dressings with a base course, moulded cornice and blocking course.

The auditorium block behind the vestibule runs lengthways and steps down slightly in height from left to right with bays marked out by brick pilasters. There is a narrow rendered addition to the east dating to the 1930s with cantilevered projection booth at upper level and irregular fenestration.

There are fixed-pane timber-framed windows to the principal elevation and metal-framed windows to west elevation. The ogee pavilion roofs are slated with clay cans and cast-iron rainwater goods. The roofing of the rest of the building corrugated sheet material.

The interior was seen by Historic Scotland in 2007 and it retained design details from the early and mid-20^th century interior decorative schemes. More recent photographs show some plaster lost from walls in the main auditorium but with the decorative scheme mostly intact. There are columnettes dividing bays and some square columns in front of the curved balcony which retains cinema seating. There is a segmental-arched ribbed ceiling and a proscenium with cartouche detail. There are metal hatches to the projection room and the void behind stage has evidence of rigging and elevated gantries. Bingo style table seating is on the lower level floor areas.

Historical background

The building first on appears on the Ordnance Survey map (surveyed 1914, published 1915). It was one of the early purpose-built cinemas constructed in Scotland following the introduction of the Cinematograph Act in 1910. Plans were submitted to the Dean of Guild Court for the construction of the 'Empire Electric Theatre' in July 1913 and a Limited Company was set up to build on the land and opened subscriptions to purchase shares set at £1 each the same year. The Empire Electric Theatre was built in just over 12 weeks at a cost of £3000 and the Falkirk Herald advertised its opening night on December 22^nd 1913 with various live performing artists included in the programme. The Falkirk History Society records that it was used for both vaudeville style shows and a cinema and housed an orchestra. The void behind the stage illustrates that the building was originally been intended to also function as a traditional theatre.

In 1897 the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society established a large soap and glycerine factory in the Grangemouth and it is likely the cinema was built to offer entertainment to the growing population who previously had to travel to Falkirk for their entertainment.

The auditorium was partially rebuilt to accommodate new sound technology in 1930 following the introduction of talking pictures and this work may have been by architect Alistair G Macdonald, son of the Prime Minister Ramsay Macdonald (Jaques). The auditorium held 655 seats at the height of the cinema's popularity during the 1940s. There was interior remodelling after fires in 1952 and 1962 and also from when it was converted to a Bingo Hall in 1971.

In 2016 it was taken over by the Lanarkshire Cinema Company and renamed the La Scala.

Statement of Special Interest

• The distinctive Scots Renaissance style of the cinema and the high quality materials and detailing used are unusual for the building type.
• The exterior is largely unaltered since the 1910s and the interior features a well retained mid-20^th century decorative scheme.
• The building retains its early 20^th century setting at the centre of Grangemouth and the building makes a positive contribution to the streetscape.
• It is an early and now rare surviving example of a cinema building in Scotland.

Architectural interest

The Grangemouth cinema is architecturally distinctive for its high quality and unusual Scots Renaissance style design. Characteristic features of the style include the ogee-roofed, paired outer pavilions and polychrome stone detailing such as the combination of red brick with decorative ashlar pilasters finials and doorpieces.

Cinemas were usually designed to have a prominent decorative entrance to the street front and an externally plain and utilitarian auditorium building behind. This example is unusual for a town centre cinema because the auditorium runs transversely behind the façade and is visible from the street.

Local architects Henry Wilson and David Alexander Tait shared a practice from 1903 to 1937 and often worked on public buildings in Grangemouth and the surrounding area. Their Scots Renaissance design demonstrates unusually high quality for a local firm. Early cinemas in Scotland built during the 1910s commonly used either Neoclassical, Art Nouveau or even Modern Movement styles. The particular use of 17^th century Scots Renaissance style in the Grangemouth cinema is an unusual example for the building type and period.

The cinema interior underwent some decorative remodelling after fires in the 20^th century however architectural design details were remodelled in the style of the 1910s such as columnettes and plaster plaques on the balcony front. Some notable original interior technical fixtures and fittings survive including the details of the projection room and gantry system above the stage from when it was also used for vaudeville shows.

The later alteration is minimal and the building retains much of its early design features. The changes to the interior have not affected the historic character of the building.

The cinema is centrally located adjacent to many historic public buildings including the Town Hall, library, a church and two banks all of which are next to the lock basin that formed the end of the Forth and Clyde canal. The striking design provides considerable streetscape interest to the immediate area.

Historic interest

The La Scala cinema is an early example of cinema designed in Scotland and the earliest purpose-built cinema in central Scotland (Gifford and Walker). Some other individually designed cinemas and theatres of this date that survive in largely unaltered condition are listed at Category A including the nearby Bo'ness Hippodrome (1911, LB22380) and the Campbelltown Picture House (1913, LB122965).

It is also now a rare survivor of an early 20^th century purpose built cinema in Scotland which retains almost all its original detailing to the exterior. The interior of the auditorium also retains its early 20^th century character demonstrating its former use despite some mid-century reconstruction and later conversion to a bingo hall.

From the first public screening of moving pictures in 1896, cinema quickly established itself as the most popular entertainment activity in Scotland which continued into the first half of the 20^th century. The La Scala cinema contributes to the wider history of popular entertainment and leisure in Scotland in the first part of the 20^th century, and to our understanding of the impact of the early cinema boom on leisure in and around Grangemouth during this period.

There is special interest of the cinema's location in the centre of Grangemouth and the social historical interest of this area because it illustrates the changing needs of the community in this developing industrial town in the early 20^th century.

Category of listing changed from C to B and listed building record revised in 2024.

References

Bibliography

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