Exterior picture courtesy of Graham Kelly
[ Archive image courtesy of the Scottish Screen Archive at the National Library of Scotland ]
The Hippodrome was opened on
11th March, 1912 by Provost Grant. This unique building was the result
of a close collaboration between two local Bo'Ness men - architect
Matthew Steele, and Owner/Manager Louis Dickson.
Dickson was a showman,
and wanted a venue to show films in, including local topicals he filmed
himself, several of which survive to this day in the Scottish Screen Archive .
The name and circular
form of the building Steele produced for Dickson
might suggest it was originally designed as a circus or theatre venue
for travelling shows, but the earliest known plans, dated October 1911,
show no evidence of this, but do show a dedicated Operators box for a
projector, and indeed are labelled 'Proposed Picture Palace, Hope
Street'.
The stage was provided with three small dressing rooms,
indicating at least some use for variety, but the name and design
clearly show the focus of the building was intended to be cinema.
For this reason, the Hippodrome has a very good claim to the title of
the oldest surviving purpose-built cinema building in…
Exterior picture courtesy of Graham Kelly
[ Archive image courtesy of the Scottish Screen Archive at the National Library of Scotland ]
The Hippodrome was opened on
11th March, 1912 by Provost Grant. This unique building was the result
of a close collaboration between two local Bo'Ness men - architect
Matthew Steele, and Owner/Manager Louis Dickson.
Dickson was a showman,
and wanted a venue to show films in, including local topicals he filmed
himself, several of which survive to this day in the Scottish Screen Archive .
The name and circular
form of the building Steele produced for Dickson
might suggest it was originally designed as a circus or theatre venue
for travelling shows, but the earliest known plans, dated October 1911,
show no evidence of this, but do show a dedicated Operators box for a
projector, and indeed are labelled 'Proposed Picture Palace, Hope
Street'.
The stage was provided with three small dressing rooms,
indicating at least some use for variety, but the name and design
clearly show the focus of the building was intended to be cinema.
For this reason, the Hippodrome has a very good claim to the title of
the oldest surviving purpose-built cinema building in Scotland.
Contstructed on a corner site, the Hippodrome consisted of a circular
auditorium with wrap-around gallery facing a proscenium and small
stage. What little ancillary space was wrapped around this, filling in
the corners of the site. The Oct 1911 plans even show that at this
stage, the lavatories were 'to be built later'! The flat roof was
supported on three girders, running parallel to the screen.
Two entrances with separate payboxes led in from Hope Street - one to
the front stalls, one to the rear, where a stair accessed the balcony.
The stalls were shown as seating 510, and the balcony 215 - although it
seems as if the line of the balcony front may have been altered at a
late stage. The balcony was supported on cast-iron pillars. A folding
metal stair served as a fire escape for the balcony, and a dedicated
(but tiny) Operators Box was at the rear of the gallery.
The resulting cinema was a very large and impressive (and presumably
risky) investment for the time, but clearly was quickly a success.
In March 1926 plans were lodged - again by Mathew Steel - to quite
literaly raise the roof, replacing the original flat ceiling with a
pitched replacement, the blueprints for the steelwork of which were
drawn up by the Fleming Bros company of Glasgow. At some point after
this but before 1930, a second stairway was constructed to give an
additional exit from the back of the balcony, and the projection room
was also expanded somewhat.
In March 1930 futher alterations took place, when permission was saught
to insert a fire exit door at the centre rear of the stalls. Then in
June of that year, the balcony front was realigned to improve
sightlines - these plans were by architect John Taylor.
Around 1936(?), the manager gained a new, large office when an
additional floor was constructed over the tiny entrance, allowing what
had been the office on the ground floor to add to the foyer space. This
was topped by a new dome on the corner. The new, enlarged entrace foyer
was decorated with panelling rescued from a ship, which had been broken
up locally.
By 1947, the Hippodrome was being run by Caledonian Associated Cinemas,
who employed their house architect - Alex Cattenach of Kingussie - to
bring the facilities at the cinema up to date. The separate front
stalls entrance was blocked up, and a new ladies toilet formed from the
space. Other toilets were refurbished, and the seating respaced and
realigned. The main alteration involved enlarging the projection
facilities, with a new larger box that slightly overhung the back of
the balcony, and featured a new tight winding staircase to it, and a
steel escape ladder from the booth. The orchestra pit was also removed
and floored over at this point.
The Hippodrome continued as a cinema until the 1970s, when it went over
to bingo. Despite a few alterations, such as the installation of a bar
on the stage, and the re-opening of a secondary entrance, the interior
remained largely unaltered. Bingo closed around 1980, and the building
has remained empty ever since, with the projectors intact and decaying
slowly in situ - these are Kalee 12, with BTH soundheads and a BTH EFR
amplifier with Peerless Magnarcs arc lamps.
Numerous plans have been mooted over the years to rehabilitate the
site, but finally funding, political will and enthusiasm have come
together in a plan to reopen the building as a community cinema and
venue, with work commenced in Autumn 2006. Funding is in part
thanks to a Townscape Heritage lottery initiative. Some photos from during the refurbishment process can be seen here , thanks to Dorothy McCallum.
In
February 2008, the keys of the building were officially handed over to
Falkirk Council, and the cinema will re-open sometime in the next few
months.
The site was A-listed by Historic Scotland in 1979, and has been on the Buildings at Risk register since 1994.
