Scotland’s Art Deco Heritage 17. Dunoon
Posted in Architecture, Art Deco, Trips, Woolworths at 14:00 on 15 September 2010
Dunoon is a seaside town so it’s not surprising to find some Art Deco but I didn’t expect quite so much. (I knew previously there was at least one typically flat roofed house.)
This is McColl’s Hotel:-
Here’s a close up on the entrance. The fenestration has obviously been updated.
This photo of the rear was taken from beside the Lamont memorial.
On the main street was Home Hardware, surely a former Woolies.
This is the La Scala cinema (as was) – opened in 1936, closed in the 1970s, now a shop.
There is a frontal image of this at the Scottish Cinemas website.
This is the house – in Mary Street – I mentioned above. It has been reroofed. Originally its windows were much more deco. I’ve seen a photo of this where it resembles the face of a robot.
Finally is Selborne Hotel which is up (down) a side street and difficult to photograph in its entirety.
Tags: Art Deco, Dunoon, Woolworths
Andy MacNicol
24 March 2016 at 18:22
The picture of the Home Hardware shop is indeed on the site of a cinema but is not the original building. The cinema, The Picture House, as demolished in the Fifties and a Woolworths store was built on the site. this is the building shown in the photo.
jackdeighton
24 March 2016 at 19:39
Andy MacNicol,
Thanks for looking in and commenting.
I’m always grateful for local information on places I’ve photographed.
Shouna Falconer
15 February 2017 at 16:50
Confused by this comment. I remember going to the La Scala as a child, and I was born in 1963, so it wasn’t demolished in the 50s. I remember the new cinema opening in John Street, Studio A, followed shortly afterwards by the smaller screen, Studio B. One of the last double bills to be shown in the La Scala was Song of the South and One Little Indian. The latter was only released in 1973, according to Internet Movie database, so once again it couldn’t have been demolished in the 50s. I can’t remember how long a gap there was between one cinema closing and the other opening. Also, the La Scala site is now a clothes shop M and Co, not a hardware shop. The hardware shop pictured is where Woolworths was. So, confused. Was there an earlier cinema demolished in 50s and on site before Woolworths? Surely I would have heard about it from previous generations of my family?
jackdeighton
15 February 2017 at 22:05
Shouna,
Thanks for looking in and commenting. Since I don’t know Dunoon well I got the information from the Scottish cinemas website. My post says the cinema closed in the 1970s. Maybe it was late 70s.
Shouna Falconer
16 February 2017 at 09:59
Jack,
Yes it was definitely the 70s, although I can’t remember when. Just confused by Andy’s post about cinema having been demolished in the 50s.
jackdeighton
16 February 2017 at 20:43
Shouna,
Hopefully people will get to this page and find your clarifying comments.