Three Bed property for Sale Elm Row - £315,000

Curious history behind Edinburgh building you've walked past hundreds of times.

Residents in Edinburgh have been left to ponder the curious history and any guises of a 19th-century building situated at Elm Row.

The building, designed by architect George Beattie & Sons and originally built in 1882, is situated at 40-44 Elm Row.

And little did residents know of its colourful history, as it housed a cinema, theatre, TV studios and roller skating rink throughout its 140-year history.

Alongside this, it is understood to have been the set for David Bowie’s recording of ‘Pierrot in Turquoise’ in 1970.

According to the website, Cinematreasures.org, the Classical venue was originally built to house the “New Veterinary College” in 1882 - with part of the premises becoming a billiard hall in 1905.

In 1909 it transformed into the Bellevue Skating Rink before being turned into a cinema by Ralph Pringle, where it became known as Pringles Picture House.

During the year 1929, it was renamed the Atmospheric Cinema and had a Filmophone sound system installed. The cinema closed shortly after, and it is not understood if this was connected to the Great Depression that was rumbling on at that time.

In 1946 the former cinema was made into the Studio Theatre. It later adopted the names of the Repertory Theatre, Festival Theatre, Broadway Theatre and Gateway Theatre before closing around 1965.

Scottish Television then took on the property in 1969, using it as a TV studio. IMDB has a page dedicated to productions at the studio with “Gillan: Live in Edinburgh”, “The Sunday Drama”, and “City Sugar”, all recorded there over 1977-80.

Queen Margaret University College then purchased the building in 1988, where the property was then re-designed internally into an International Drama Centre known as the Gateway Theatre. Architects Law Dunbar-Naismith are understood to have undertaken the refurb.

In 2005 the premises were closed and by 2006, QMU had applied for the property to be demolished bar the façade to turn the space into student accommodation.

Work was underway to transform the building in 2012, but today the building acts as a home to Aberdeen Considine on the ground floor with apartments above.

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