St Andrews Cinemas - New Picture House
St Andrews
New
Picture House
117 North Street
http://www.nphcinema.co.uk
The New Picture House in St
Andrews opened in 1931. It has a long, narrow auditorium, with a
balcony and a barrel-vaulted ceiling. Designed by local architects Gillespie
and Scott, two dressing rooms were also provided to service a
reasonably deep stage, which until recently was used for local amateur
shows.
A second
screen was added under the balcony in the early 1980s, and a third in the
other half of the rear stalls in 2002. In 2005, the seating was Screen
1 - 475 seats (in original circle and front stalls); Screen 2 - 124
seats, Screen 3 - 100 seats (both in original rear stalls).
The
main auditorium is decorated with a series of paintings of the local
area - including the cinema itself - and the embossed letters NPH (for
New Picture House) crown the proscenium.
Numerous original decorative
features remain intact in the building, including original doors and
signage, and remnants of the original gas secondary lighting system (no
longer used!).
As of July 2005, the balcony is currently being extended forward onto
the projecting roofs of the mini-screens below,…
St Andrews Cinemas - New Picture House
St Andrews
New
Picture House
117 North Street
http://www.nphcinema.co.uk
The New Picture House in St
Andrews opened in 1931. It has a long, narrow auditorium, with a
balcony and a barrel-vaulted ceiling. Designed by local architects Gillespie
and Scott, two dressing rooms were also provided to service a
reasonably deep stage, which until recently was used for local amateur
shows.
A second
screen was added under the balcony in the early 1980s, and a third in the
other half of the rear stalls in 2002. In 2005, the seating was Screen
1 - 475 seats (in original circle and front stalls); Screen 2 - 124
seats, Screen 3 - 100 seats (both in original rear stalls).
The
main auditorium is decorated with a series of paintings of the local
area - including the cinema itself - and the embossed letters NPH (for
New Picture House) crown the proscenium.
Numerous original decorative
features remain intact in the building, including original doors and
signage, and remnants of the original gas secondary lighting system (no
longer used!).
As of July 2005, the balcony is currently being extended forward onto
the projecting roofs of the mini-screens below, to providing additional
luxury seating for the main screen.
The Picture
House has a long outer foyer with an island paybox, leading
to a circular inner foyer with a domed ceiling, from which steps lead
up to the balcony.
The original cinema restaurant/cafe, situated
under the balcony rake and above the foyer, is now sublet as a
bar/restaurant, and accessed from a new entrance to the left of the
cinema entrance.
The cinema has an unusual exterior, which creates a
covered area over the pavement outside to shelter patrons waiting to
pay.
Along with the Campbeltown
Picture House , it is now one of only two cinemas
in Scotland where one can see a film from the best seats in the house -
at the front of a balcony... The New Picture House was listed Category B by Historic Scotland in 2008.
A full gallery of interior pictures from the New
Picture House can be found here .
Thanks to Paul Carey for allowing us access to the building.
