The A-listed Picture House in Campbeltown is an amazing survivor and holder of several records. It is now the oldest purpose-built cinema in Scotland still showing films, the only cinema in Scotland with atmospheric-style decoration, and one of the few cinema buildings to remain undivided, allowing films to be seen from a choice of stalls or balcony. Unusually, it has also never had a name change.
The Picture House opened on 26 May 1913 and was the first cinema in the town. It was designed to seat 640 by the prolific cinema architect AV Gardner, who later designed cinemas including the Grosvenor and the Kelvin and is now better known as one half of the partnership Gardner and Glen.
His design was quite unlike that of any other cinema building of the time. Viewed in plan projection, the building is clearly based around a series of concentric ovals. The highest and narrowest contained the projection box, with a larger oval below at balcony level and another curved frontage and foyer area beneath. The curved walls are particularly noticeable on the exterior façade and, in another unusual touch, were mirrored on the back wall of the auditorium.
There was no foyer to speak of. Doors beneath a single central ticket box were open to the elements and protected only by an open-air balcony above.
Sadly, no photographs of the original 1913 interior are currently available, but descriptions suggest that there were stained-glass windows on either side of the proscenium, with decoration including potted plants and boxes. The original plans also show an orchestra pit below the stage and two dressing rooms, one on each side of the screen.
The cinema was a great success. In July 1931, it closed for 11 days to allow sound equipment to be installed. An additional kiosk building was constructed next door to provide more queuing space for customers waiting to enter the main building.
In 1935, the original architect was brought back to refurbish and modernise the interior, which he did in an atmospheric style similar to that of his Kelvin cinema. This involved constructing two small buildings, now known locally as ‘the wee houses’, on either side of the screen. The balcony was also rebuilt, improving access from one stairwell to two.
The most was made of the small building and, somewhat unusually for an atmospheric cinema, the buildings on either side of the screen are not entirely decorative. One houses the manager’s office and the other is a storeroom.
At some time in the 1940s, further improvements were made to the foyer and exterior. The outside balcony was screened off with windows, while the main foyer was enlarged by installing new doors at the previously open entrance.
Apart from the later installation of acoustic tiles in the auditorium and several coats of paint, the cinema survives largely unaltered since the 1935 redevelopment. The festoon curtain and some of the current seating came from an unidentified Glasgow cinema in the 1950s.
Due to falling attendances, part-time bingo was introduced in 1963. This arrangement continued until 1986, when the cinema closed.
Thankfully, the building was taken over by the Campbeltown Community Business Association, a charitable company. A large fundraising effort eventually culminated in the refurbishment of the building and its seating, reducing the capacity to 265. The cinema finally reopened in 1989.
The cinema survives to this day and celebrated its 90th birthday in 2003. Because of the increasing costs and problems involved in maintaining a building of that age, plans are shortly to commence to repair the foyer roof and, funding permitting, convert the adjacent kiosk building to create a new entrance and café-bar area. Photographs Gallery
While the interior is also badly in need of refurbishment, it still retains its unique atmosphere and appeal. More than 90 years after it opened, and having outlasted and survived bigger and grander cinema competitors, bingo operations and numerous threats of demolition, the ‘Wee Pictures’ enters its tenth decade very much looking to the future.
The building was listed at Category B in 1989, and this was upgraded to Category A in 2008. Long may it continue.
A full gallery of photographs of the interior from January 2005 is available - Many thanks to then Manager Russell Carroll and Manageress Joanna Campbell for taking the time, on their afternoon off, to show us around and for being such welcoming and generous hosts. An exterior photograph from the late 1970s is also available, courtesy Frank Watson.
