Description

Neil C Duff, 1913. Rectangular-plan, Art Deco style former cinema now amusements arcade. Rendered and painted. Base course; margined window bays; cornice; tall stepped and coped parapet.

ENTRANCE (JAMES STREET) ELEVATION: 9 symmetrical bays. Taller bay to centre flanked by pilaster-strips with raised moulded panel as stylised capitals, broad round-headed arch springing from cornice above capitals and set in tall parapet. Modern doors to centre, canted oriel to 1st floor, ocului flanking. 3 window bays flanking, each ground floor window and smaller window at 1st floor set in long, narrow recessed, margined bays; doorway slapped into bays to right. Outer bays flanked by pilaster-strips, doorway to outer left, oculus with keystone to 1st floor, moulded panel between. Mirror image to outer right with window at ground.

Mostly timber sash and case windows with frosted glass and Art Nouveau stained glass panels.

Statement of Interest

The former La Scala building is notable for its distinctive Art Deco styling with long narrow pilasters and round-arched pediment to centre adding significant interest to the streetscape. The La Scala opened in December 1913, originally seating about 600. The auditorium was stadium in style, with narrow slips leading to the screen from the rear stalls. A tiny balcony consisted of 5 private boxes, while films were projected from the back of the stalls. The original screen was surrounded by a curved proscenium. Sound was introduced from 1930, and cinema continued largely unchanged until the early 1980s, when the building was split to create a snooker hall on a newly created upper floor, and a small cinema at the rear of the building. The cinema closed in 1984, but snooker continued until the 1990s. The building re-opened as The Logie Baird public house in 2007. The Cinema Theatre Association note that much of the original decoration to the ceiling was intact prior to the conversion to the pub, although it is currently unknown if it survives above the existing modern lowered ceiling.

References and Notes updated as part of the Cinemas Thematics Study 2007-08.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q56635303

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Worcestershire Revised Edition (Buildings of England) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Old House Eco Handbook: A Practical Guide to Retrofitting for Energy-Efficiency & Sustainability
• 
  Listed Buildings, Conservation Areas and Monuments