Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Trust’s bid to give new lease of life to city’s historic King’s Theatre
“Our interest is in restoration of Dundee’s historic buildings as so many were lost in the 1970s.
“If something isn’t done soon, the theatre could be lost forever.
“The responses we’ve had so far to our survey have been positive — more than 50% have said they would consider being contributors.
“It’s key to bringing that whole area back to life and it will also complement the Waterfront investment.
“But we also realise it’s a big and an expensive project.”
Mr Meiklejohn said the trust has not yet approached the building’s owners and won’t until a fullyfledged plan had been drawn up.
Genek Romanowski, a member of the trust, said the group wants to revive the theatre in whatever way works best.
He said: “There was a prolific campaign in the 1990s — we are carrying this on with renewed interest. We’re busy exploring many avenues of how we can best achieve the revival of this wonderful building.”
The trust considers the building an important architectural legacy of Dundee’s past as the only surviving large touring theatre in the city.
It was originally luxuriously decorated with a spacious seating area lined in mahogany and teak and a lavish auditorium in an Edwardian style.
Built as the King’s Theatre and Hippodrome in 1909, the auditorium was converted to a cinema in 1928. The name was changed to The Gaumont in 1950 and again to Odeon in 1973.
It was closed as a cinema in 1982 and part of the building was subsequently run as a bingo hall and then partly as a number of different nightclubs.
It was discovered in the 1990s that enough of the original structure, including the ceiling, remained intact and the theatre could be restored.
Since then the building has changed ownership several times. It has been split into three properties, with Joy Nightclub at 25 Cowgate and Efes Cafe at 29 Cowgate.
The remaining properties at 23 and 21 are empty. Nick Day, member of the Dundee Civic Trust board, said: “The trust would like to see it restored but think the capital and revenue costs could prove a major obstacle. “It is a building of note, and one worth saving. We wish the trust
well in this.”