19-537: The Belmont Cinema is an arthouse cinema on Belmont Street , Aberdeen , Scotland and is the last remaining independent cinema in the city. The cinema building is the property of Aberdeen City Council and is temporarily closed following the collapse of its former operator, the Centre for the Moving Image (CMI), in 2022. Belmont Community Cinema Ltd were named by Aberdeen City Council as preferred operator for
38-511: A cinema between 1898 and 2022 when it closed along with the Edinburgh Filmhouse . 57°08′49″N 2°06′05″W / 57.14687°N 2.10139°W / 57.14687; -2.10139 Archibald Simpson Archibald Simpson (4 May 1790 – 23 March 1847) was a Scottish architect, who along with his rival John Smith , is regarded as having fashioned the character of Aberdeen as "The Granite City". Archibald Simpson
57-559: A contemporary of Byron , who lived nearby in Broadgate. At 13 he entered Marischal College but left after a year, on the death of his father, to work in the office of James Massie, a builder at Castlehill, having been influenced so by his uncle William Dauney. Due to being born lame in his left arm, his father left him a legacy of £200 with which at the age of 20 he went to London to be apprenticed to architect Robert Lugar and later David Laing . After two years Simpson left to embark on
76-485: A purpose-built 800-seat church on Belmont Street. The Relief United Presbyterians established a Belmont Street congregation a little after 1778, when funds began to be raised for a 1000-seat church. In 1828, the Belmont Chapel of Ease, as it had come to be, became a fully fledged parish church, under the ministership of Reverend John Bryce. The Belmont Cinema is located on Belmont Street - it operated as
95-441: A study tour of Italy, returning to Aberdeen in 1813 to start an architectural practice in his old house at 15 Guestrow. Simpson first established his practice in 1813 at his old childhood home at 15 Guestrow. He later moved to premises at 130 Union Street, where in 1826 he lost his entire archive of drawings in a fire which destroyed the building, forcing him to move his office to 8 Belmont Street and later to 22 Crown Street - where
114-746: A warehouse. It reopened under lease to Picturehouse Cinemas as the Belmont Picturehouse in September 2000, after a major refurbishment by Aberdeen City Council with assistance from the National Lottery and Scottish Screen . After some turmoil and uncertainty, the lease for exploitation on the Belmont to Picturehouse was extended in April 2011 for a further ten years. However, with the purchase of Picturehouse Cinemas by Cineworld ,
133-479: The 'Save The Belmont Cinema' campaign was founded by local cinephiles and business people. This led to the creation of Belmont Community Cinema Ltd, a local charity dedicated to reopening the Belmont which was selected as preferred operator for the cinema by Aberdeen City Council in September 2023. At a public meeting in October 2023, the new company pledged to put film, education, community and customer experience at
152-409: The 1780s, housing there initially comprising the domiciles of the wealthy, typified by large town houses with gardens running down to the river. A few of the houses from the late 18th century still survive on Belmont Street today, including Menzies'. There were several churches on Belmont Street. The Triple Kirks , a free church established in 1844 at the junction of Belmont Street and Schoolhill,
171-488: The company were forced to sell the Belmont due to a ruling by the Competition Commission that it had created unfair competition in the city. In April 2014, Centre for the Moving Image (CMI) took over the lease and renamed the premises Belmont Filmhouse as a sister cinema to the Edinburgh Filmhouse . It closed in October 2022 when CMI ceased trading and entered administration. Following CMI's collapse,
190-698: The flute. He later also founded the Aberdeen Artists Society with his friend and collaborator, the artist James Giles , who also undertook several portraits of Simpson for the University Court . James Matthews was articled to Simpson in 1834. The boldest and most refined architecture of Simpson is in the Grecian style, in its classic purity of detail and proportion, although he was equally at ease in adopting Gothic, Italian Renaissance, Tudor and Hanseatic architectural styles to meet
209-492: The former Post Office building now stands - before later moving to live at 15 Bon Accord Street and practicing from his office at 1 Bon Accord Street. Simpson began his work at a time when wealthy country landowners were very influential in the social and cultural development of the City of Aberdeen, church and institutional expansion was rife and the enterprising Incorporated Trades were looking to invest heavily and speculatively in
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#1732798711365228-405: The heart of a newly reinvigorated offering at the site. The cinema is a grade C listed building . Belmont Street (Aberdeen) Belmont Street is a north-south street in the centre of Aberdeen , Scotland that runs perpendicular to Union Street . Belmont Street originated with the late 18th century expansion of the town. It was part of an expansion out of the town into suburbs to
247-573: The new civic development - made possible by the bold construction of Union Street westwards across the Denburn towards the rich hinterland in 1801. Simpson, along with his brother Alexander, was responsible for reviving the Aberdeen Musical Society, founded in 1747, in a move to make influential social contacts which were vital to the success of his architectural practice. Archibald played the violin and his brother Alexander played
266-507: The preference of his clients or the nature of the site. Clients frequently placed him in open competition with John Smith , though they greatly respected one another's work and ambition to achieve civic unity in the new streets that were then under construction. The result was a fine granite street architecture that was to influence the quality of development for a further century. Simpson died, aged 56, at his house at 1 East Craibstone Street, Aberdeen on 23 March 1847, having returned ill from
285-654: The premises in 1898, and featured footage of Queen Victoria at Balmoral Castle , establishing a tradition of hosting visiting cinema shows. In 1910, the Trades Hall was converted into a permanent cinema called the Coliseum. It was refurbished and reopened as the New Kinema in 1921. After another refurbishment in 1935, it was renamed the Belmont Cinema. It closed in 1953, and the building was converted into
304-402: The site in September 2023, with an expected reopening date of late 2024. The building was open as part of Aberdeen's 2024 Doors Open Day on 7 and 8 September. The building was constructed in 1896 as a trades hall to a design by architects, Alexander Ellis and Robert Gordon Wilson . It was principally used for meetings of Aberdeen's newly established Labour Movement. The first film was shown on
323-520: The west by the towns richer denizens. For example, Thomas Menzies of Pitfodels , one of Aberdeen's wealthiest merchants of the time, moved from his long-standing town house on Castle Street (which is now the site of the North of Scotland Bank ) to a five-bay two-storey house on Belmont Street in 1788. The street overlooked the valley of the River Denburn and was developed on vacant ground there in
342-418: Was born at 15 Guestrow, Aberdeen on 4 May 1790, the ninth and last child of William Simpson (1740–1804), a clothier at Broadgate, and his wife Barbara Dauney (c.1750 - 1801), the daughter of a Presbyterian minister. The family house at Guestrow is thought to have been built by his uncle William Dauney, who was a master mason. The house was later demolished in 1930. Simpson attended Aberdeen Grammar School as
361-538: Was deliberately sited with the intention of rivalling the established "Auld Kirk" of St Nicholas parish. A building to house the unification of the East, South, and West free churches of the town, it was designed by Archibald Simpson . There is now a pub, the Triple Kirks, on the site. The South Church is also on Belmont Street. In November 1779, the anti-Burgher United Presbyterians of north Aberdeen moved to
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