Govanhill Picture House
49 Bankhall Street, Govanhill
The B-listed
Govanhill Picture
House opened in 1926. Built to the designs of Eric A Sutherland, it
featured a unique Egyptian-styled facade, with columns and a
moulded scarab above the entranceway.
Archive interior image courtesy of dusashenka
The interior sat 1,200, and
although described as having stalls and balcony, the front of the
'balcony' came right down to the rear of the 'stalls' level, with a
wooden dividing wall to keep the separate areas apart.
The building was sold to ABC in
1929, and remained open until 1961, from when it was used for bingo.
That ended in 1974, since when the building has mainly been used as a
warehouse.
However, the cinema is now
derelict, and the building is on the Scottish Buildings
At Risk
register.
An application
to demolish the building to replace it with flats, retaining just the
entrance facade was passed by Glasgow City Council in 2007. No work had been done as of early 2009.
A 1980s exterior is available
here, courtesy Chris Doak.
