The tall, narrow façade of the Salon would have been a striking sight when it opened in Sauchiehall Street in June 1913. At a time when cinema architecture was still in its infancy and tended to borrow heavily from traditional theatre design, the Salon, attributed to architect Thomas Baird Jr., would have looked like no other building in Glasgow, cinema or otherwise.
The entrance from the street was through a large central door, framed by pillars on either side, with a massive Moorish arch containing three windows above. The Moorish theme was repeated across the rest of the façade, which was mostly clad in diagonally set square tiles and framed, almost like a proscenium, by an elaborate band of scrollwork. A detail of the 1913 exterior plan is also shown.
The name was displayed centrally above the arch. Above this was a full-width balcony, with even more elaborate scrollwork adorning both its front and the area above the nine tall windows which looked on to it. Finally, the roofhead was lined with a row of small, castle-like pediments shaped like crosses, which continued around the sides.
Inside, the auditorium, with seating for 950 in the stalls and balcony, with a…
The tall, narrow façade of the Salon would have been a striking sight when it opened in Sauchiehall Street in June 1913. At a time when cinema architecture was still in its infancy and tended to borrow heavily from traditional theatre design, the Salon, attributed to architect Thomas Baird Jr., would have looked like no other building in Glasgow, cinema or otherwise.
The entrance from the street was through a large central door, framed by pillars on either side, with a massive Moorish arch containing three windows above. The Moorish theme was repeated across the rest of the façade, which was mostly clad in diagonally set square tiles and framed, almost like a proscenium, by an elaborate band of scrollwork. A detail of the 1913 exterior plan is also shown.
The name was displayed centrally above the arch. Above this was a full-width balcony, with even more elaborate scrollwork adorning both its front and the area above the nine tall windows which looked on to it. Finally, the roofhead was lined with a row of small, castle-like pediments shaped like crosses, which continued around the sides.
Inside, the auditorium, with seating for 950 in the stalls and balcony, with a small foyer. It was tall and narrow to make the best use of the narrow site. Above the auditorium was a remarkable rooftop café area which continued the Moorish theme of the façade.
At the northern end of the café, a tripartite archway echoed that of the main entrance, but featured a larger central arch flanked by two smaller arches on either side. Balconies overlooked the café on both sides. These were divided into small bays with curved balcony fronts decorated with iron railings. Above, a barrel-vaulted ceiling provided natural light through large glazed sections in both the ceiling and the external roof, with coloured interior glazing. The whole café area was advertised as a Winter Garden and Tea Lounge.
The auditorium was tall and narrow, with a double-level tearoom above.
The tearoom plan shows the curved, projecting balcony fronts.
The cinema operation does not appear to have been very successful. The building gained something of a poor reputation and is reported to have closed after less than ten years of operation, in May 1923. The fate of the cinema after that is recorded in a set of plans dated 1924/5. These include plans of the building as it then stood, as well as proposals for its conversion to retail use.
The 1925 exterior plan shows the altered building, compared with the 1913 cross-section shows the stalls and balcony configuration, the 1925 cross-section shows the three additional floors.
The façade was completely altered to create a more traditional frontage for the period. It was finished in plain white masonry and divided vertically by three narrow glazed sections which ran almost the full height of the façade. Small balconies adorned the outer two sections at the uppermost level.
The photograph also shows entrance formed to the left of the ground floor, providing access to both a lift and a small staircase leading to the upper floors.
Sadly, the cinema auditorium itself was also obliterated at this time. The stalls floor was levelled and three new floors were inserted above it. The café and Winter Garden, however, seem to have escaped lightly, and this area survived as the least altered part of the original 1913 design.
The alteration plans name Lumley as the commissioner, and after the conversion the building seems to have become known as Lumley House. Interestingly, an early photograph of the cinema while it was still in use [3] shows Lumley’s occupying the adjacent premises, above what is now Lauder’s pub. This would suggest that the company took the opportunity to expand when the cinema became vacant.
The top-floor café area, however, appears to have been a separate concern and is shown in photographs from the 1930s as The Piccadilly Club.
As of October 2004, the ground floor was occupied by a Rangers store, while a Chinese restaurant occupied the first and second floors. A nightclub, then called Moon, had operated from the upper floors for many years, although its former name, Rooftops, was still displayed in the windows. It used the uppermost of the floors inserted during the 1920s, as well as the original two-level tearoom. As had been the case since the mid-1920s, access to the upper floors remained through the close at the side of the ground floor, where the staircase wound around a lift shaft.
It had previously been thought that none of the cinema’s original decoration remained intact, but the dedicated efforts of the nightclub staff brought some surprising survivals to light. On the lowest level occupied by the club, which was the uppermost of the new floors built during the 1920s, a false ceiling concealed an unusual ceiling of decorated panels made from what appeared to be pressed metal. This was the level of the original auditorium ceiling, but it is unclear whether the panels dated from 1913 or from the 1920s alterations.
Most notably, the upper floors of the club occupied the space where the café had once been. This area retained much of interest from the original 1913 design beneath the mirrored tiles and lights of the later décor. A photograph shows the pressed-metal ceiling at the level of the original auditorium ceiling.
The area had been The Piccadilly Club during the 1930s and is also said to have been a casino at some later point. Remarkably, it still retained the balconies on either side. The upper bays had curved, decorative metal railings, although it was unclear whether these dated from 1913 or from the later 1920s rebuilding. Pillars in this area also had highly decorated tops, including two which supported an otherwise plain arch at the southern end.
Photographs show details of a balcony front and pillar top, the original curved roof trusses of the glazed roof section, the void between the two glazed roof tiers, Moorish-style archways, an archway detail and base, and a surviving portion of the ceiling.
The best evidence was again found above false ceilings. At the northern end, a magnificent parallel pair of Moorish arches remained hidden behind wooden panelling and modern electrical wiring. A larger central arch strongly echoed the original Moorish arch on the façade, lined internally with a double row of teeth. It was flanked by two similar, smaller arches. Presumably, this arrangement would originally have been mirrored by similar arches at the southern end, where the plain archway later stood.
Between the two northern sets of arches, a small section of the barrel-vaulted ceiling also survived, lined with decorated panels. Tantalising glimpses remained of the decoration that must once have continued down to floor level.
Sadly, the main glazed ceiling of the café area had largely been destroyed. Around the roof void, bubbled paint, charred timbers and melted lead attested to its destruction by fire at some unknown date. The main curved structural ribs remained in situ and appeared to show signs that small decorative features had once been attached to them. Some coloured glass was still visible in the corners of the roof trusses, although the main exterior roof glazing had been painted over and covered with metal sheeting since the fire.
Externally, the façade of 1924/5 was simplified further at a later date. Modern glazing was introduced and the two small balconies at the top of either side were removed. As a result, the building had changed so dramatically from its original appearance that, unless the high, peaked roof of the auditorium was noticed, there was little indication that it had once been one of Glasgow’s earliest and most individual cinemas.
The interior photos were taken around 2004.
Unfortunately, in 2018, a huge fire broke out, destroying this and the neighbouring building. The Salon has since been entirely demolished, and as of 2026, were it stood is still a gap site on Sauchiehall Street.
References:
- One Hundred Years of Glasgow's Amazing Cinemas, Bruce Peter, Polygon, 1996, ISBN: 0748662103.
- 1924/5 building plans, courtesy of Moon Nightclub.
- Glasgow City Archives – Photo Collection – C1223 (Salon as cinema, c1913).
- Glasgow City Archives – Photo Collection – C6977 (Lumley House, c1930).
- Glasgow City Archives – Photo Collection – C6980 (Cook's shop unit, c1937).
Many thanks to Sandy Forbes and the Moon Nightclub management and staff for their time and enthusiasm in 2004!
