New Victoria/Odeon

Originally a very large and luxurious city centre super cinema with a café, organ, orchestra and full stage facilities. The facade of five bays in faience had four Doric columns in antis above the entrance canopy with French windows opening on to a balcony for the café. These were bricked up for offices, but later (c.1989) re-opened and restored. The interior is commodious with grand marble-floored foyers with high mahogany dados in Roman classical style. The auditorium, with one tier facing the proscenium, was a distinctly Germanic interpretation of the 'atmospheric' style. Below a blue plaster 'sky' ceiling, the side walls featured five top-lit niches alternating the muses of art, music and drama (the work of a sculptor called Beattie) interspersed with slender, fluted engaged Ionic columns. The proscenium was pedimented with a coffered frame and the safety curtain was painted with a scene from a Roman forum. Although repainted, this interior survives substantially intact behind the structure and cladding of the cinema's five screen arrangement, the truncated original design still visible from the former circle. The New Victoria was upgraded to Category A listing in 2012, due to its rarity. Historic Environment Scotland has called it "one of the finest inter-war cinemas in the country exhibiting a rare and unusual mix of Art Deco and classical elements in its design". Over the years the building has survived plans for demolition and conversion to student accommodation. An application for planning permission was submitted to Edinburgh City Council in July 2016 to turn the building into a 734-seat cinema complex, with the largest screen seating 423 people and the smallest just 49, along with bars and a cafe. There are also plans to restore many of the 1930s features including the plaster coffered ceiling, the panelled walling of the foyer and the crush hall ceiling. The intricate lantern-light plasterwork will be restored along with the original symmetrical fire-exit doors, the faience and ground floor channelled decoration and door patterns on the front facade.