Inverness Cinemas - La Scala
Archive images courtesy of the
Scottish Screen Archive at the National Library of Scotland
Opened in December 1913 by
Kelso's La Scala Picture Palace Ltd. Also known as Kelso's
La Scala Picture House .
Originally designed by Alexander Ross and son to seat 1000 with a 34 ft
proscenium and tea rooms.
Later taken run by Inverness
Picture House Ltd, before becoming part of Caledonian Associated
Cinemas. Twinned in 1978 to
438 seats (stalls) and 255 (circle).
Closed
in January 2001. Demolition took place in January 2005 for replacement
with a housing development.
Allan Goodall remembers:
"The La Scala was a nice
cinema, which opened in 1913. I remember the old Chief telling me about
the early days as he was there shortly after it opened (his name was
Willie Oberbeck and his twin brother Freddie was chief at the Playhouse
Montrose just before I went
there). He told me there was a fountain in front of the stage and a
cafe on the right of the building. The three box seats on the right
were open so people in the cafe could view the silent films. During my
time there the boxes were covered…
Inverness Cinemas - La Scala
Archive images courtesy of the
Scottish Screen Archive at the National Library of Scotland
Opened in December 1913 by
Kelso's La Scala Picture Palace Ltd. Also known as Kelso's
La Scala Picture House .
Originally designed by Alexander Ross and son to seat 1000 with a 34 ft
proscenium and tea rooms.
Later taken run by Inverness
Picture House Ltd, before becoming part of Caledonian Associated
Cinemas. Twinned in 1978 to
438 seats (stalls) and 255 (circle).
Closed
in January 2001. Demolition took place in January 2005 for replacement
with a housing development.
Allan Goodall remembers:
"The La Scala was a nice
cinema, which opened in 1913. I remember the old Chief telling me about
the early days as he was there shortly after it opened (his name was
Willie Oberbeck and his twin brother Freddie was chief at the Playhouse
Montrose just before I went
there). He told me there was a fountain in front of the stage and a
cafe on the right of the building. The three box seats on the right
were open so people in the cafe could view the silent films. During my
time there the boxes were covered up with concrete blocks and velvet
drapes hung in front.
Although it sat around 1,000 when it opened, the stalls were redesigned
in the 1950s. The seating originally went up to the side walls with a
central aisle; when redesigned they created three aisles, one in the
centre and one running down the side of each wall. Seating was then 250
in the balcony and 600 in the stalls. The procenium was approx. 36ft
wide, with a scope picture of 32ft. The screen curtains were festoon
and lit by foot and batten lights. In 1965 the cinema was redecorated
with a light blue on the walls and ceiling, with some of the ornate
plasterwork picked out in white. The projectors at that time were Kalee
12s with British Acoustic sounheads and a Kalee duosonic amp. In approx
1974 the entire projection equipment was replaced with Westrex 7000
projectors and Peerless Magnarc xenon conversions. The magnarcs which
were converted came from the Playhouse which had burned down in 1972.
When twinned in 1979 the
projectors were Westrex 2000s.
Original
corner entrance on Academy Street
Same
view in October 2010
The original entrance was on the corner of Academy Street and Strothers
Lane. There was a set of double doors on each corner which led into a
small vestibule with terrazzo flooring. You then went through another
set of doors to the main foyer with the box-office on the left. Just on
the other side was a set of stairs which took you down to the switch
room, battery room and stalls gents toilet. It was on the top of these
stairs that they built a wall closing off the old foyer and created a
new box-office when the cinema was twinned. The entrance was then
closed off a couple of years before closure and moved further up
Strothers Lane to create a slightly larger foyer but a very narrow
entrance, it just looked like a shop door. The original foyer had wood
panelled walls and ceilings which were painted over in the 1965
redecoration. The original entrance had a canopy put up at some point
in its lifetime which went round the entire corner. The original foyer
was either sold or leased out to a camera shop and is still there -
it's possible the old panelled ceiling is still there above the modern
suspended one, so maybe a small part of cinema history still
survives..."
Detail of decorative lion's
heads, which once supported a canopy, still extant in 2010.
Exterior photos from 2001
courtesy of JTK Barr -
- of
the auditorium rear, and
of
the entrance.
Exterior photo c1998 thanks to Norrie Mcnamee
Interior photograph prior to closure courtesy of David Low
Post demolition photos courtesy Derek Mathieson
and
Selection of photos below taken during stripping out, just prior to
demolition in January 2005 courtesy of David Low.
(Thanks also to
Colin Cumming for building access, and to Hector McDonald for archive
materials and information)
Balcony ceiling detail
