Corstorphine Astoria Centre

At the end of 2017, The Corstorphine Trust took a long term lease of the Kirk Loan Hall from The Old Parish Church.

It has been renamed The Corstorphine Astoria Centre and is new home of the 2/4 Ingram organ that was used in the nearby Astoria Cinema (now the site of Iceland) until its demolition in the mid-1970s.

The Astoria Cinema closed its doors in 1973 and before the building was finally demolished in 1976, a team of organ enthusiasts removed the components of the organ with a view to finding a new venue. After being sold and moved a number of times, the organ was eventually taken to a storage unit in East Lothian where they lay for almost 30 years. In 2014, The Corstorphine Trust agreed to buy the Ingram cinema organ and the components were returned to Corstorphine where the task began to restore it to its formal glory.

The 2/4 Ingram had two Manuals (keyboards) and four Ranks (voices or sets of pipes). The organ was one of the smallest ever installed in a cinema – media reports of the time consistently refer to it as ‘the little Ingram’ – but it packed a punch!

Now the only surviving example from this manufacturer, the Astoria organ, was considered their best example and has been described by the British Institute of Organ Studies as “a gem of an organ with a quality of sound that belied its small size.”

We currently plan to have our organ played live on Sunday 26th September so that Doors Open Days visitors are able to hear it. If this is not feasible due to COVID or other circumstances beyond our control, we will live stream/record a performance instead to be broadcast on our Facebook page and website.

If you can’t visit us this time in person to hear our organ please enjoy the vintage recording below from the Scottish Theatre Organ Preservation Society.