Edinburgh has witnessed many great art deco buildings bite the dust down the decades, but few as beautiful as the Rutland Cinema.
Operated by Gaumont British Theatres, the Canning Street venue was one of Edinburgh's first purpose-built cinemas capable of showing "real" talkies, thanks to being equipped with the state-of-the-art Western Electric sound system.
It opened on April 28, 1930, just months before its sister venue, The New Victoria (latterly the Odeon) in Clerk Street. Designed by renowned cinema architect T. Bowhill Gibson, had a capacity of 2,187 making it one of the largest picturehouses built in the capital to date.
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Internally, the Rutland was an absolute delight filled with neoclassical design features and classic British music hall fittings. Its giant proscenium was surrounded by a large painted panel depicting woodland scenes, and it had a grand organ supplied by Ingram & Co for use during intermissions.
In the late 1940s, as the Rutland approached its 20th birthday, it became part of the Rank Organisation and underwent a refurbishment. It reopened in March 1950 as the Gaumont and, as a sign of the times, had its organ removed.
Edinburgh local Kim Traynor remembered being taken to the Gaumont as a youngster when American actor Fess Park, the star of the 1955 movie Davy Crockett, King of the Wild Frontier made a guest appearance and was mobbed by adoring fans.
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Writing on the Edinphoto website, Kim said: "I was taken to see the Davy Crockett film at the Gaumont Cinema, when it came out. The big attraction was a personal appearance by the star, Fess Parker, who came out onto the stage after the film and sang the 'Ballad of Davy Crockett' while playing guitar.
"During the crush that followed when he left the cinema, Fess' car was mobbed by adoring fans, I was being held up and reached into the car. I grabbed his raccoon hat off his head and clutched it to my chest.
"A very large policeman told me to hand it back."
Sadly for Bowhill's art deco masterpiece, its days were numbered. On May 30, 1962, a serious fire broke out at the Gaumont, destroying much of the auditorium.
In a cruel twist of fate, that same year the cinema had been offering patrons the chance to win £100 in a competition linked with the film The Day the Earth Caught Fire, which the Gaumont described as "the story of the biggest catastrophe ever".
The venue's very own catastrophe saw it close for good before being demolished four years later. The last film shown at the Gaumont was the 1962 British comedy A Pair of Briefs, starring Michael Craig and Mary Peach.
Edinburgh tallest office building, the 13-storey Canning Street Tower - now known as Exchange Tower - would rise from the Gaumont's ashes in the 1970s and continues to occupy the site today.
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