Leith Cinemas
11 Casselbank Street
The Central was built in 1894
as a Turkish baths, hence the moorish influence on the facade. It
opened as a cinema in December 1920, seating around 500 in stalls and a
small balcony. It closed sometime before 1936, probably never having
been converted for sound.
Converted for church use in 1936, the building has retained that use
ever since, with windows let into the side of the auditorium, and the
projection room removed.
The real interest in the building however
is in its plaster screen, surrounded by decorative proscenium, still
amazingly intact and looking stunning in 2006.
Bought by the Edinburgh-based Destiny Church
three years ago, the interior of the building has been cleaned and
repainted, and with new seats fitted in the balcony, and they have
instigated a series of popular film showings, digitally projected, but
utilising the original plaster screen.
Information about the regular film showings, and the Leith Film Festival can be found here .
The Central was C(s)-listed in 1977, and this was upgraded to Category B in 2008.
A full gallery of interior photos can be seen here .
Thanks to Peter Anderson and everyone at the Destiny Church…
Leith Cinemas
11 Casselbank Street
The Central was built in 1894
as a Turkish baths, hence the moorish influence on the facade. It
opened as a cinema in December 1920, seating around 500 in stalls and a
small balcony. It closed sometime before 1936, probably never having
been converted for sound.
Converted for church use in 1936, the building has retained that use
ever since, with windows let into the side of the auditorium, and the
projection room removed.
The real interest in the building however
is in its plaster screen, surrounded by decorative proscenium, still
amazingly intact and looking stunning in 2006.
Bought by the Edinburgh-based Destiny Church
three years ago, the interior of the building has been cleaned and
repainted, and with new seats fitted in the balcony, and they have
instigated a series of popular film showings, digitally projected, but
utilising the original plaster screen.
Information about the regular film showings, and the Leith Film Festival can be found here .
The Central was C(s)-listed in 1977, and this was upgraded to Category B in 2008.
A full gallery of interior photos can be seen here .
Thanks to Peter Anderson and everyone at the Destiny Church for their
warm welcome and taking the time to show us around their building.
References
The Last Picture Shows: Edinburgh, Thomas, 1984
