Argyle Street, City Centre

Opened: January 1st 1913
Closed: 1935

Designed by: George A Boswell

Number of screens: 1
Number of seats: 600

LEFT: The St. Enoch Picture Theatre
Photograph: Scottish Screen Archive Collection

Opened in 1881 as Crouch's Theatre of Varieties and then as Crouch's Wonderland, the theatre was typical of the time, providing a bill of variety, freak shows and, from 1897 the occasional "cinematograph" show.

January 1913, and following a rebuild it opened as the St. Enoch Picture Theatre although films still took second place to variety until the 1920's when the St. Enoch became a full time cinema.

The first week's programme was Finger of Scorn starring James Cruze and Mignon Anderson and "a 3 reel subject", The Mills of the Gods. A full orchestra was promised afternoon and evening and free afternoon tea was provided.

In 1935, in an event that mirrored the fate of the Coliseum some 35 years later, a compulsory purchase order was placed on the St. Enoch pending a redevelopment and the cinema closed, although, as with the Colly, the redevelopment came to nothing but the cinema never reopened.

The twin towers are still visible above the shops that occupy the building today.