Over two and a half thousand people have signed a petition to stop the former Odeon Cinema on Clerk Street being converted into a 230-room boutique hotel.
Before it closed five years ago, the cinema was used extensively for red-carpet galas during the Edinburgh International Film Festival (such as The Thomas Crown Affair premiere) and for live concerts, as well as a daily cinema. Built in an art deco style in the Thirties, the main auditorium of the former Odeon building houses a huge proscenium arch under a star studded ceiling.
Duddingston
House Properties (DHP), the property developer who owns the cinema, wants to demolish the auditorium as part of its conversion. In December 2008, it received
permission from the City of Edinburgh Council to convert the cinema which is B-listed and on the Register of Buildings At Risk.
The campaigners say that if Historic Scotland passes DHP’s plans "we risk
losing a national treasure." The campaigners argue, on the petition preamble, that the expansive building could be a creative hub instead.
"This space can be converted into a major digital
media access centre, a digital film library, and a Scottish art
gallery. With a café-bar and restaurant, this could turn into an
economically viable and vibrant space for the community and a
nationally important creative hub for artists and filmmakers."
Free e-book
Ironically, the decision on the heritage value of the cinema comes just as Historic Scotland, working with the Cinema Theatre Association, has brought out a new, free e-book, looking at "how the outstanding buildings where audiences have basked in the glow of the silver screen have evolved and survived."
Spotlight on Scotland’s Cinemas coincides with the Cameo Cinema’s 60th anniversary (and 95 years since it first opened as a cinema). A request to review the listing of the Cameo - which was saved from development after public outcry - was the impetus for the
study. As a result the Cameo was upgraded from category C to B.
The booklet also features former Edinburgh cinema the Playhouse.