Playhouse

Playhouse

www.caledoniancinemas.co.uk

Opened in 1933 for a local company, the Playhouse in Perth became the

flagship cinema for the Inverness-based Caledonian Associated Cinemas

(CAC), when that chain was formed in 1935. The Playhouse, like

many cinemas of the time, was booked from Glasgow by Alexander B King.

The architect was Alex Cattenach Jr., who worked from the

Kingussie-based practice started by his father, Alex Senior. Between

building cinemas, Alex Jr. managed to find time to become a Colonel in

the TA.

Perhaps arising from work on a few cinemas which the elder Cattenach

had carried out in his practice, his son went on to specialise in

cinema buildings, and the Perth Playhouse remains as probably the

best-preserved of this body of work, despite later subdivisions.

Several of his cinemas were designed with help from the Edinburgh

cinema specialist, T. Bowhill Gibson, (and also by William Henry

Sayers, an assistant of Gibson), but it is not clear exactly how much

influence they had on the final design. Construction of the cinema took

shape in only nine weeks, which was thought to be a record at that

time. The auditorium sat 1,687, and incorporated a café and two

shops; of note was the fact that the balcony was of a cantilevered

design.

The Playhouse makes good use of the broad thoroughfare on which it is

located in Perth city centre with a bold, unashamedly modern design. A

central tower, possibly originally clad in marble, rises to three

storeys in height, with three central windows at its base, placed

between the vertical buttresses which run to the wall-head above.

1940s

1950s

Archive exterior images courtesy of Alex Braid.

This

clean, monumental tower design is broken by a horizontal ribbed course

near the top, and supports an illuminated name-sign and, originally,

flagpoles and banners (the supports for which can still be seen).

Flanking the recessed tower feature are identical, symmetrical wings,

each rising to two storeys. These have a strong horizontal emphasis,

with protruding brick string courses, and each storey has long,

metal-framed glazing which follows the brickwork by curving in to meet

the recessed central tower section.

At ground floor, the main central entrance is again recessed, with four

sets of double doors, with chromed handles and kickplates, terrazzo

steps with inlaid mats, a curving canopy adorned with neon tubing, and

a triangular fringed cornice where the wings to each side curve in to

meet the doors. What were originally shop units to each side again

appear to be clad in a marble-like stone.

Rothesay

Prestwick

Externally, Cattenach would return to an almost identical, although

slightly less successful, design in 1938, when he built the Regal in Rothesay

for a syndicate of local businessmen. Coincidentally, this would later

also become part of the CAC chain. Intriguingly, Perth’s exterior

also bears more than a passing resemblance to Alister G.

MacDonald’s exterior design for the Broadway in Prestwick , which opened in 1935.

Inside, a spacious entrance area has been created by expanding the

original foyer to incorporate both shop units, giving a light and airy

feel, as well as allowing for ramped access. To the rear, the

centrally-placed original stairs to the balcony have chrome and painted

metalwork banisters and railings, ascending to a half-landing before

splitting to the left and right to allow patrons access to the balcony

foyer and original café areas.

This spacious foyer area, originally housed the café, behind the first

floor windows of the central tower. The café area itself now forms the

small Screen 2 (seating 56). Opposite this, we again encounter original

glazed doors with chrome fittings, taking us up to a central vomitory

to the former balcony area. This currently forms the main Screen 1

(seating 469), when the cinema was tripled in the late 1970s.

Balcony Foyer

Doors to Balcony

Despite the addition of a new proscenium forward of the original, and a

new floor from the balcony front to this screen, much remains of

interest in this area of the building. The ceiling has original

decorative ventilation grilles and glazed light fittings to the rear,

with a ribbed cornicing along the top of the sidewalls. The sidewalls

themselves have several vertical recesses running up to this cornice,

flanked by a jagged deco pattern, and clearly intended to be lit by

concealed illumination from above or below at some point - the current

modern downlighters seem poorly positioned.

1980s decor

2006 decor

The main ceiling has a central trough running towards the screen,

which has two outer sections of straight banding flanking a central

section of zig-zagged banding. The trough section would also likely

have been highlighted by concealed lighting around its rim. Sadly, the

banding has been recently painted in a uniform grey colour, which

almost renders the zig-zags invisible when compared to earlier

contrasting colour schemes, such as red and biege with gold trimming.

The building was B-listed

in 1991, by which time it had been converted into a three-screen

operation. The two screens situated in the rear stalls, now numbered 3

and 4 (seating 169 and 144), retain no obvious original features of

interest.

As previously mentioned, Screen 2 was subsequently built in the top

foyer café area, whilst Screen 5 was built in the stage and front

stalls area (seating 127), with the seating reversed to face the main

entrance of the building. This allowed the box for this screen to also

serve Screens 6 & 7, which were built in 1999 in an extension to

the rear of the building (both new screens seat 130). Their colour scheme and

acoustic panelling decoration bear an uncanny resemblance to the

screens created in the final large scale refurbishment of the Odeon in

Glasgow’s Renfield St, which was carried out in the same year.

The 1991 listing notes also mention several features whose present

existence unfortunately could not be verified when the current

photographic survey was made in 2006. The fine’ original plasterwork

of the grilles flanking the proscenium were said to have survived

behind the current modern screen 1, but this area is currently

inaccessible.

Screen 1

Screen 6

Mention is also made of some original paint colouring in an office off

the main foyer, and of the original foyer floor covering surviving

beneath the current carpet, but again, these could not be easily

verified in a working building.

After providing cinematic entertainment for the citizens of Perth for

over 70 years, the Playhouse has proved a remarkable survivor –

outlasting the all of the town’s other cinemas ,

including the mighty Gaumont/Odeon chain. Sadly, from an empire which

once covered over 30 Scottish towns and cities, it is now one of only

two cinemas that still use the Caledonian name, the other being the Elgin

Playhouse. The lack of any nearby multiplex has worked in the

cinema’s favour until now, but the financial viability of the

cinema business in general has led to the owners seeking new ways of

making the building more profitable.

In 2005, permission was applied for to further redevelop the building.

This was subsequently granted by Perth and Kinross council in 2006, and

involves the creation of a new extension in a gap infill site to the

left of the present building. This will would house two new small

screens, as well as an extended bar/restaurant operation. The design of

this extension came in for some criticism from several bodies,

including the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland and the

council’s own architect, centring around whether the new

façade should be in the style of adjacent older tenements, the

cinema itself, or be totally contemporary.

The present building, meanwhile, would be altered too under these proposals

– losing the original stairs at the rear of the main foyer, which

would be replaced by a more central spiral stair. Upstairs, the small

Screen 2 in the former cinema café area would be converted back

to an open space, whilst the largest alterations would be in Screen 1

(the former balcony area). The plan involved this being converted to a

dining area with screening facilities - a process which would appear to

involve the removal of the original balcony rake - although it is not

yet clear whether this would involve a single, level floor or a series

of terraces.

The best that can be hoped for is that these works ensure the future

survival of the Perth Playhouse as a cinema, and that the works respect

the original art deco interior of the cinema by making good the

decoration where the rake is removed. Although the owners have kept the

cinema in excellent order, both in terms of cleanliness and decoration,

it would be welcome if the current, rather cold colour scheme of blue,

green and grey were replaced with a warmer, more appropriate scheme

which could once again highlight the banding and other 3D-effects

of the ceiling in contrasting colours.

The trend towards creating dining areas with screening facilities is a

relatively recent proposal by cinema operators to try to make maximum

use of their larger auditoria, but it has often proved contentious, as

evidenced by the recent passionate public debate over the (now

withdrawn) conversion plans for the Cameo

in Edinburgh. Whilst it remains to be seen which element is considered

more important in Perth, we hope that the most intact area of the

original auditorium will still remain a place where films - as well as

food - can be enjoyed in a favourable environment.

A full interior photo survey c.2006 can be found here .

Many thanks to Gavin MacKenzie, Denise Ewins and the staff of the

Playhouse and Cairnstar Limited for taking the time to show us around.

Photographs

Detailed interior gallery