Scotland's cinemas - Bruce Peter

In the first half of the twentieth century, Scotland was movie-mad. In industrial areas, sonic of the biggest cinemas in Europe were constructed. accommodating over 3,000 patrons at a time. Even small towns and larger villages had cinemas serving rural hinterlands. Even though a cinema -- at its most basic -- is a very formulaic building type, great imagination was used by the majority of developers and architects to devise uniquely enticing edifices in a very wide diversity of design styles. Others were less salubrious - their factory-like appearance perhaps reflecting the fact that cinema actually was entertainment manufactured on an industrial scale. Here. we are taken on an illustrated tour of Scotland's more remarkable cinema buildings, the vast majority of which have subsequently been demolished or substantially altered to fulfil new roles. In most circumstances, these buildings were radically different in scale and style from their surroundings and this made them controversial. Today, however, older generations look upon them with nostalgia and the best surviving examples are listed in the hope that they can be preserved for posterity. With hindsight, cinemas were sensitive barometers of aspiration and taste and the finest examples provided an aura of luxury and escapism, particularly during the harsh Depression years of the 1930s. Illustrated with over 300 photographs, this book is a 'must' for anybody interested in twentieth century commercial architecture, social history and the development of the cinema industry.