The Trust's Director, John Pelan, has written in the
Scotsman about the sad saga surrounding Edinburgh's former
Odeon cinema on Clerk Street.
The B-listed cinema with it's art deco facade and atmospheric
auditorium were sold to a developer in 2003, before the cinema
closed for good in 2006. Since then the building has lain empty and
deteriorating, while a string of proposals to demolish parts of the
building, including the significant auditorium, have been proposed
by its owners.
Both Historic Scotland and the City of Edinburgh Council have
confirmed that, were it not for the planning application, the
building would now be Category A-listed, meaning the building
should be considered to be of international importance, mainly on
the basis of the uniqueness of the main auditorium.
The most recent plans, to demolish the historic auditorium to
make way for a hotel development, have been strongly opposed by the
local community. The Southside Comunity
Council has collected over 4000 signatures on a petition asking
City of Edinburgh Council to initiate urgent repairs on the
building, and to consider compulsory purchase proceedings to buy
the building from DHP and sell it to someone who will restore it
and bring it back to use.
John suggests that: "There are buildings where the least worst
or least radical option is just not good enough; when those
involved in the future of the threatened building need to go the
extra mile to not only secure its future but to recognise its
intrinsic value as a cultural and economic asset. It is widely
acknowledged that Edinburgh's Odeon Cinema is such a building,
where even the academic interest from historians and architectural
conservationists is outmatched by the intensity of emotion felt by
local people who remember it in its heyday."
The Scottish Civic Trust has formally objected to the recent
application for demolition, and you can read our comments here. You can read John's letter to the
Scotsman
here.