http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Topic: Bath Street, Porty: Art Deco Demolition :( en Thu, 21 May 2026 18:37:01 +0000 http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-243111 Sat, 18 Feb 2017 10:39:36 +0000 chdot 243111@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/politics/flats-plan-for-former-portobello-cinema-sparks-protests-1-4369937" rel="nofollow">http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/politics/flats-plan-for-former-portobello-cinema-sparks-protests-1-4369937</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-237428 Fri, 25 Nov 2016 11:57:02 +0000 wangi 237428@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>The owners of the George will be at the Porty Community Council meeting on Monday to share their latest plans.</p> <p>And the Council's active travel officer will also be along as part of our Prom action item. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-237340 Thu, 24 Nov 2016 12:50:25 +0000 chdot 237340@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/5-edinburgh-cinemas-which-are-no-more-1-4296597" rel="nofollow">http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/5-edinburgh-cinemas-which-are-no-more-1-4296597</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-234826 Thu, 27 Oct 2016 22:36:01 +0000 gembo 234826@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>We have shown walid salhab's stop motion films at out cinema in Balerno. They are well worth watching. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-234820 Thu, 27 Oct 2016 22:18:02 +0000 chdot 234820@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"</p> <p>A HISTORIC cinema on Portobello High Street is set to host a film premier - its first screening in over 100 years </p> <p>The old building will throw open its doors to the public on the evening of 10th of November when it hosts a special film premier event promoting the work of an award-winning Edinburgh filmmaker.</p> <p>"</p> <p><a href="http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/portobello/historic-portobello-picture-house-to-show-first-film-in-a-century-1-4269779" rel="nofollow">http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/portobello/historic-portobello-picture-house-to-show-first-film-in-a-century-1-4269779</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-234479 Fri, 21 Oct 2016 16:46:08 +0000 Arellcat 234479@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@k, I presume you've seen and thoroughly digested the Scottish Cinemas website?</p> <p><a href="http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/edinburgh/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/edinburgh/index.html</a></p> <p>Some good pics of the George in Porty:</p> <p><a href="http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/scotland/portobello/george.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/scotland/portobello/george.html</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-234475 Fri, 21 Oct 2016 16:11:40 +0000 kaputnik 234475@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@ih indeed yes but left it off as I wouldn't say it had much or anything of the Art Deco about it, seems a badly proportioned mix of functional modernism clad in a traditional Edinburgh tenement stone facade. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-234474 Fri, 21 Oct 2016 15:13:41 +0000 ih 234474@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>@kaputnik You almost certainly know of the Ritz in Rodney St. </p> <p><a href="http://www.broughtonspurtle.org.uk/news/remembering-ritz" rel="nofollow">http://www.broughtonspurtle.org.uk/news/remembering-ritz</a></p> <p>I only post because you didn't mention it. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-234467 Fri, 21 Oct 2016 13:37:57 +0000 gembo 234467@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Meant to say the cinema then bingo hall at tollcross was reduced to rubble last week </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-234462 Fri, 21 Oct 2016 12:08:08 +0000 kaputnik 234462@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I'm doing a bit of research on old cinemas in Edinburgh. There were some art deco stonkers;</p> <p>The State on Great Junction Street, looking sorry for itself but still standing and used as church by the Nigerian community.</p> <p>The New Tivoli on Gorgie Road, now used as a Destiny church and devoid of quite a few of the original features inside and out. Anth has already got some good photos of this.</p> <p>The Embassy on Boswall Parkway (closed due to fire, demolished)</p> <p>The Regal on Portobello Road (demolished).</p> <p>The Lyceum on Slateford Road (closed due to fire, demolished).</p> <p>Poole's Roxy on Gorgie Road, facade retained but removed of many details and features when it was converted into flats and a furniture store.</p> <p>The Astoria in Corstorhine (demolished).</p> <p>The Gaumont on Canning Street although really it's a dressed up piece of Neoclassicism (closed due to fire, demolished).</p> <p>Our man Ebenezer James Macrae designed much of Edinburgh's public housing post-war (I) and was a small-c design conservative. Pitched slate roofs, masonry and harling finishes and Georgian 6-over-6 windows were de rigeur for much of his designs, as were traditional Scottish architecture features like string courses, heavy stone window cills and lintels and crowstep gables. Very little in the way of modernist design thinking crept into his designs; not necessarily a bad thing as pitched roofs, lintels, cills and string courses are all necessary features to throw the water off the building, rather than having it run down the front and lead to mould and decay of the building materials. He fought the authorities, more or less successfully, to maintain building of traditional 3 and 4 storey tenement blocks, although in the suburbs 2 storeys were what the Government wanted and a lot were built. The actual layout and size of the flats was far more modern and forward thinking - generous bathrooms, separate gas-powered kitchens with space for a table (most folk cooked in their living space at this point), electric lighting and wiring, separate bedrooms (i.e. no bed recesses etc. than the architectural style suggests). Light and ventilation was key to his thinking, apparently Macrae despised tenement stairwells with no natural light or ventilation and you will almost never find an Edinburgh Corporation house with an internal stairway without big windows.</p> <p>One thing Macrae did get wrong though apparently was "raking out" the mortar from the joints in rubble stonework. That was the best contemporary thinking but turns our was wrong, and the joints should be filled in to best preserve the stonework. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-234454 Fri, 21 Oct 2016 11:30:57 +0000 gembo 234454@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>In hat was perhaps post World War One corporation of Bo'ness (BTC) there is a fairly large amount of Art Deco public housing and cinema and other buildings in that very town though not spotted much in neighbouring grangemouth </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-234451 Fri, 21 Oct 2016 10:59:51 +0000 chdot 234451@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/portobello/campaign-to-save-portobello-cinema-boosted-by-demolition-block-1-4263509" rel="nofollow">http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/portobello/campaign-to-save-portobello-cinema-boosted-by-demolition-block-1-4263509</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-224799 Fri, 08 Jul 2016 16:20:59 +0000 kaputnik 224799@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><em>nor that the building cannot be economically repaired</em></p> <p>This is why developers sit on listed buildings and let the wind and water do its work. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-224797 Fri, 08 Jul 2016 16:17:33 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 224797@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"<em>I am writing with regard to the above application to which you raised representations. </p> <p>The City of Edinburgh Council has now determined that the application be Refused in accordance with the particulars given in the application.The decision with any conditions, reasons and/or informatives can be found on the other side of this letter. Full details of the final scheme, including the report assessing the application, can be found on the Council website at <a href="http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/planning" rel="nofollow">http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/planning</a> .</p> <p>The reason for the decision was<br /> The proposal fails to meet the requirements of policy Env2 - Demolition of Listed Buildings and policy Env5 - Demolition in Conservation Areas and has neither demonstrated that an alternative use cannot be found nor that the building cannot be economically repaired.</em>" </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-222682 Fri, 10 Jun 2016 12:40:01 +0000 jdanielp 222682@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>"who wouldn't want to live in a converted Art Deco cinema"</p> <p>Why convert? It would take 'home cinema' to a whole new level. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-222648 Fri, 10 Jun 2016 10:41:48 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 222648@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Deadline for objections to the application is today!</p> <p><a href="https://citydev-portal.edinburgh.gov.uk/idoxpa-web/applicationDetails.do?activeTab=makeComment&amp;keyVal=O5XUQWEW0GY00">Click here</a>.</p> <p>----</p> <p>The George on Bath Street remains one of the finest examples of Art Deco architecture in Edinburgh. Where once there was a wealth, many have been left to fall into disrepair. The White House in Niddrie/Craigmillar is a shining example of a fantastic renovation; while the Causewayside Garage and the old cinema and shopping complex at the north-western end of Great Junction Street hide their charms behind flaking paintwork.</p> <p>Fairmilehead lost a wonderful deco building, and in its place are identikit, small homes, stuck to the side of a main road, within hearing distance of the bypass.</p> <p>Stunning buildings such as these should never be allowed to be removed for the sake of putting in place yet another faceless box, especially when within Edinburgh, and even within Porty, there are areas of land which could be developed. Clearly developers have reasons of profit in mind when thinking of locations, and this is a nice, prime spot near the prom, tucked away from the main hubbub. But frankly the profit-driven desires of private enterprise should not over-ride the architectural history of the city, where that history can be preserved and enhanced.</p> <p>I would have serious misgivings about the future of any building in this city if the demolition were to be approved. And it would make a mockery of the buildings listing system. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-220557 Fri, 20 May 2016 11:40:17 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 220557@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Indeed, and when you see round the back it's a little tatty. Actually, the front is tatty as well. Oh to win the lottery...</p> <p>Someone on the Our George FB group mentioned the Birks cinema in Aberfeldy. Smaller building, but looks fab, and inside has been done really nicely (of all things I saw Malcolm Tucker's first turn as Dr Who in there), and all run by and for the community. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-220552 Fri, 20 May 2016 11:10:54 +0000 kaputnik 220552@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Someone on twitter was saying that there's a fair amount of structural degradation around the back; front always kept clean and well painted but I don't imagine a Bingo hall will have been the most attentive of stewards - like so many other cinemas they took over, they used the place until it began to require some hefty repairs and maintenance then move on to a new Bingo Barn some place nearby (see also the Palladium at Fountainbridge).</p> <p>So you might get the developer trying to play the old "if we don't knock this down it might fall down" wheeze. Not that different from the one being tried on the old Royal High School of "if we don't irreversibly damage the building it might be irreversibly damaged" </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-220516 Thu, 19 May 2016 21:56:40 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 220516@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p><a href="http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/portobello/portobello-s-art-deco-george-cinema-facing-demolition-1-4132672" rel="nofollow">http://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/our-region/edinburgh/portobello/portobello-s-art-deco-george-cinema-facing-demolition-1-4132672</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-220236 Tue, 17 May 2016 15:47:34 +0000 Stickman 220236@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>I grew up along the road from the old Ascot cinema in Glasgow. I only remember it as a bingo hall, but when developers turned it into flats there was lots of reassurance about a sympathetic retention of the facade and how the new buildings would complement the old. From face on it isn't too bad, but from any other angle the new flats dominate the facade, which makes the whole retention kind of pointless. </p> <p><a href="http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/glasgow/ascot.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/glasgow/ascot.html</a> </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-220226 Tue, 17 May 2016 15:12:36 +0000 urchaidh 220226@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>Porty vs Developers, round n+1.</p> <p>This should be fun. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-220225 Tue, 17 May 2016 15:10:38 +0000 kaputnik 220225@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>P.S. I'm not a massive fan of facadism, but who wouldn't want to live in a converted Art Deco cinema? </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-220221 Tue, 17 May 2016 14:56:23 +0000 kaputnik 220221@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>The only document on the portal is a deficiency notice telling the developer they have 14 days to provide the required drawings.</p> <p>Still. </p> http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=16406#post-220216 Tue, 17 May 2016 14:40:40 +0000 Wilmington's Cow 220216@http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/ <p>The following applications have been submitted:</p> <p>16/02052/FUL &amp; 16/02052/LBC: Demolition of existing listed bingo hall, erection of a residential redevelopment comprising 21 flatted dwellings including associated parking / garaging and garden grounds. at 14 Bath Street (no documents currently on planning portal) </p>