General view of entrance front.

Description General view of entrance front.

Date 1913

Collection Records of Bedford Lemere and Company, photographers, London, England

Catalogue Number BL 22371

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies B 64789, SC 717101

Scope and Content The West End Playhouse, No 317 St George's Road, Glasgow (latterly known as The Metropole Theatre and now demolished) The West End Playhouse, designed by the architect, William B White, was built in 1910 as a theatre, although it subsidised most of its plays and variety bills from the proceeds of its cinema shows. The architectural photographer, Harry Bedford Lemere, was commissioned to photograph the Playhouse shortly after it opened in August 1913. This elegant three-storeyed red sandstone building had a façade designed in the French style of King Louis XV, with a heavy cornice and pairs of giant Ionic-style pilasters. A large glass-roofed canopy, under a central semicircular balcony, extended over the main entrance and the billboards advertising the current theatrical attraction. The theatre opened in 1913 with an impressive variety bill only to close six months later when its owner went bankrupt. It reopened in 1914 as the Empress Variety and Picture Playhouse which was shortened to the New Empress in 1933. In 1960 it was renamed the Falcon Theatre, and became the New Metropole in 1964 when it was bought by the Glasgow comedian and actor, Jimmy Logan. It finally closed in 1972 and was demolished in 1988. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Medium Glass

External Reference Box 63

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