Church Hill Theatre is a

Category B listed This is a list of Category A listed buildings in Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern ...

pink sandstone former church and current theatre venue owned by the Edinburgh City Council. Built originally as Morningside Free Church, the council purchased it in 1960. After undergoing an extensive refurbishment, it re-opened in August 2006. It is managed by the team operating the

Assembly Rooms In Great Britain and Ireland, especially in the 18th and 19th centuries, assembly rooms were gathering places for members of the higher social classes open to members of both sexes. At that time most entertaining was done at home and there wer ...

History

It was built in 1892 as North Morningside Free Church to a design by

Hippolyte Blanc Hippolyte Jean Blanc (18 August 1844 – 17 March 1917) was a Scottish architect. Best known for his church buildings in the Gothic revival architecture, Gothic revival style, Blanc was also a keen antiquarian who oversaw meticulously rese ...

and purchased by Edinburgh's town council in 1960.

Current use

It is a popular venue for amateur drama productions, as well as for the

Edinburgh Festival Fringe The Edinburgh Festival Fringe (also referred to as the Edinburgh Fringe, the Fringe or the Edinburgh Fringe Festival) is the world's largest performance arts festival, which in 2024 spanned 25 days, sold more than 2.6 million tickets and featur ...

and

Edinburgh International Festival The Edinburgh International Festival is an annual arts festival in Edinburgh, Scotland, spread over the final three weeks in August. Notable figures from the international world of music (especially european classical music, classical music) and ...

. Some of the non-professional theatre and dance companies it hosts include Lothian Youth Arts And Musicals Company, Tempo, Showcase, Edinburgh Telephone Choir, Edinburgh Music Theatre Company, Leitheatre, Edinburgh University Footlights, Buckstone Youth Dance, Manor School of Ballet and Edinburgh Dance Academy.Church Hill Theatre - Council Venues and Halls - City of Edinburgh Council

Facilities

The theatre auditorium seats 353, and the building has space for smaller functions. Since the renovation, there is now lift access to the auditorium, as well as a privately run cafe
/ref>

References

{{Religious sites in Edinburgh Hippolyte Blanc buildings Edinburgh Festival Theatre in Edinburgh Morningside, Edinburgh