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The new Joint Station
2632 Possibly late October 1867, shortly before opening, the new Joint Station seems complete but with some minor work still to be completed.
The new Joint Station opened on 4th November
1867, followed by the closure of Waterloo and the
original Guild Street station to passenger services
although they remained open for goods traffic.
Exchange traffic between the two railways used
the new Denburn Valley Railway instead of the
harbour rails.
There was no formal opening but the new station
with its huge arched roof said to be modelled
on that of London Victoria attracted much local
acclaim. Over the next thirty years, increasing
traffic, including suburban trains to Dyce and
Culter and the North British Railway's services
from Edinburgh and Glasgow by way of the Tay
and Forth Bridges, meant that the station soon
became inadequate. During the summer months
and local holidays there were many extra excursion trains. From the 1890s it was widely criticised for its cramped and sometimes dangerous facilities. Aberdeen Theatres: Aberdeen Arts Centre
3386 In 1960 the education committee of Aberdeen Town Council proposed the conversion of the empty North and Trinity Parish Church into an adult education and civic arts centre. The plan was given final approval in February 1961, much to the delight of Aberdeen's art enthusiasts.
The Evening Express detailed the need for such a venue at the time by describing the difficulties faced by the William Gavin Players, a local drama group, in staging a play earlier that week in the ballroom of the Music Hall. They had to overcome the roar of a nearby wrestling audience, the incessant ringing of an unanswered telephone, a cramped stage and poor acoustics.
A temporary restriction on capital expenditure and a particularly severe winter caused delays for the conversion. Work began in late 1961 and was concluded by the autumn of 1963. The work cost around £33,000 and saw the reconstruction of the interior and a thorough re-vamp for the building's exterior. At one point the new centre was going to be called Longacre, but this idea was scrapped in favour of Aberdeen Arts Centre.
The completed venue was opened on 18th October 1963 by Sir Herbert Read (1893-1968), an art critic, poet and anarchist philosopher. In his speech Read criticised the main political parties of the day for neglecting the development of the arts and the human imagination in favour of a blind drive for scientific and technological efficiency.
In addition to the 385-seat auditorium, the venue had an exhibition space, a lounge, and a tea bar. The Arts Centre has remained the focal point for local arts groups and arts education to this day. It has also served as a meeting place and provided a useful stage for theatrical productions of all types.
In 1998, facing the need to cut £17.5 million from their budget, Aberdeen City Council withdrew their funding from the Arts Centre. This left the future of the venue in danger. A popular campaign to avoid its closure was led by Annie Inglis MBE (1922-2010), Aberdeen's first lady of theatre.
This led to the Aberdeen Arts Centre Association taking over the venue on a voluntary basis and the eventual formation of the Castlegate Arts Limited, a company with charitable status who continue to run the venue today.
Over the years the Arts Centre has played host to many noted local theatre groups like the Attic Theatre Co., The Revue Group, the aforementioned William Gavin Players, Phoenix Theatre, the Gilbert & Sullivan Society, Aberdeen Opera Company, Confederate Theatre, Dragongate Theatre, and no doubt many more. It remains a much-loved venue for performers and audiences of all ages. Aberdeen Cinemas: Picture House / Gaumont
3407 This photograph from across the road shows the Gaumont cinema and its surrounds in September 1973, shortly before it closed down for good.
The cinema appears to have shown more X-rated, European films prior to its closure. This image shows adverts for Hot and Blue (original title: Jeux pour couples infidèles) and Hungry for Sex (Liebesspiele junger Mädchen).
Newspaper listings indicate that the cinema was also showing at this time late night screenings of Scream and Scream Again, an Amicus horror starring Christopher Lee, Vincent Price, and Peter Cushing, and a biker movie called Hell's Angels '69. Aberdeen Cinemas: Picturedrome / Cinema House
3412 A photograph of the Cinema House on Skene Terrace from the Aberdeen Journals Archive collection.
This cinema operated successfully for many years at this location. It was in January 1971, with Where Eagles Dare - the Richard Burton and Clint Eastwood action adventure, that the venue showed its final film. Its closure, just a few months short of its 61st year, was blamed on the film industry's lack of support for cinemas and its location out of the very centre of town will not have helped.
This photograph dates from April 1970 and so shows the building nearing the end of its time as a cinema. The promotion outside the Cinema House is for showings of El Dorado, the Howard Hawks western with John Wayne and Robert Mitchum. At the time the cinema was operated by the Donald family's Aberdeen Cinemas Ltd. Company.
Next to the Cinema House in this photograph can be seen a branch of Lombank Limited, which specialised in credit finance and leasing facilities for commerce, the motor trade, industry and agriculture. This office, originally a branch of Lombard Banking and Lombank, opened at 44 Union Terrace in late 1960.
[Information primarily sourced from Silver Screen in the Silver City (1988) by Michael Thomson]
Image © Aberdeen Journals Ltd. |