EXPLAINED: Why Eden Court in Inverness might never have become the premier arts' venue in the Highlands
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IT stands proudly overlooking the River Ness in the Highland capital, an instantly recognised landmark building visited down the years by hundreds of thousands of people and treasured by generations as the region's premier arts venue.
It was 15 years ago that Eden Court was re-opened following a £25m redevelopment which followed a determined fundraising campaign.
Three connected buildings which collectively span three centuries and now enjoy Category A listed status. Two theatres the 869-seat Empire and the 275-seat One Touch have been joined by two multi-purpose studios, two cinemas and three art galleries.
And the expansion has continued with a now annual Under Canvas music festival which last year saw 15,000 people attend over 42 days of live music.
Eden Court also prides itself on outreach work across the Highlands, keen to be seen as a venue not just for Inverness but the whole of the region.
And yet the status it now enjoys – it lays claim to being Scotland’s largest combined arts organisation – was far from guaranteed during a difficult decade prior to its opening.
Eden Court might easily have remained a vision amid a period of high inflation, rising costs and divided public feeling over what was appropriate for this prominent site in the heart of the Highlands in such challenging times.
Sound familiar?
But let's quickly look back a century before those challenging years in the 1970s to see just how many stories the site we now see has to tell.
Eden Court itself was initially completed in 1878, designed by Dr Alexander Ross who transformed the west bank of the River Ness and left an indelible stamp across the Highlands.
He designed the neighbouring cathedral and Eden Court was initially for Bishop [Robert] Eden, described as a man of great energy and visionary zeal.
The house had 12 bedrooms, four large and elegant reception rooms and extensive servants' quarters at the rear of the ground floor. It cost around £6000 to build, paid for mainly by donations from many local people who were members of Bishop Eden's congregation.
When he died he had lived in the house for nine years. Eden Court remained the official residence for the Bishop of Moray, Ross and Caithness until 1947.
It was a grand building but life there could be harsh and cold with residents using candles into the 1940s and managing without heating.
When the bishops moved out, the nurses moved in. The Northern Hospitals Management Board bought the house in 1947 and Eden Court became a residential pre-training centre for nurses in Inverness.
For three months, the new trainees attended classes at Eden Court before progressing to training on the wards of the Northern Infirmary and Raigmore Hospital.
Up to 20 nurses at a time lived in the house with a resident warden on the upper floor keeping a close eye on them. Modernisation brought new comforts including upstairs bathrooms, central heating and electric lighting.
In 1966, the Northern Hospitals Board moved out of Eden Court to a new nurses' home and training centre at Raigmore Hospital.
Inverness Town Council, seeing the potential of the riverside location, purchased Eden Court for £29,000 as a site for a new civic development.
However it lay empty for the next few years and was vandalised while the town debated what type of development was needed and could be afforded.
It was news of the planned closure of the town's only theatre, The Empire Theatre, which cemented support for the development of the arts centre.
At last, momentum started to build.
The Planning Committee had approved the building of an arts and conference centre at Eden Court in 1966. Yet it was to be almost another ten difficult years before Eden Court, the new theatre, finally opened its doors.
Building work began in 1973, an era of high inflation, the three-day week and rapidly rising building costs.
The Inverness Town Council - later replaced with a District Council - manoeuvred through five years of fraught public debate and numerous political and financial crises to build Eden Court.
Provost William Smith was one of its biggest champions. Sadly he died just months before Eden Court opened.
The cost of creating the new arts centre more than tripled from initial estimates of £600,000. Public opinion was divided. The modern design proved controversial and some questioned the need for such a large and expensive theatre.
Architects Graham Law and James Dunbar Naismith, at their own expense, visited every new theatre in Britain as well as touring Scandinavia, America and the then West Germany to develop their ideas.
Provost William Smith's words at the time were: "It has always been a dream of mine, shared by the Town Council, that some day we would have a cultural centre worthy of the Highland capital, which would serve the whole Highland region."
Supporters battled on amid rising costs and divided opinion and on April 15, 1976, Eden Court opened with a gala performance. The Scottish National Orchestra conducted by Alexander Gibson and Terence Kern were joined by members of The Scottish ballet, Scottish Opera, Prospect Theatre Company and The Royal Ballet.
Former Inverness Courier editor Eveline Barron – always sceptical of the council's decision to borrow money to build a theatre and arts complex at Eden Court – devoted some leader space to it that very day, her words reflecting the divided opinion the project had sparked.
She gave full rein to her doubts but appeared to grant an at best grudging acceptance of the project.
"With the gala opening on Thursday of the biggest financial burden with which Inverness and other Highland ratepayers have been lumbered for many a day, curiosity about the Eden Court theatre complex has been growing apace. Indeed, interest in some of the first events has been so great that seats are no longer available...but it will be surprising if the same pressure and excitements will be kept up once Eden Court begins to be taken for granted, which will not take very long.
"Unrepentantly we maintain our view that something smaller, less grandiose, less expensive and less ambitious is all that is needed ... It will please every ratepayer even more than the audiences if we prove false prophets... Perhaps we should warn the management that, in true Highland fashion, several minutes' grace for latecomers is not only expected but also a courteous acknowledgement of the Highland way of life."
Was she right or has it stood the test of time? You decide...
Fast forward to May 2008 when Prince Andrew, The Earl of Inverness, visited the newly re-developed building officially drawing to a close the fundraising appeal that he had launched five years prior. The appeal raised £2.2 million towards the £25 million cost of redeveloping the major arts venue.
Then theatre director Colin Marr, Provost Bob Wynd, Chair of Eden Court Board, Ian Morrison and Nicola Walls, the architect of the newly redeveloped building, were present for this latest milestone in the rich history of Eden Court.
During his tour, he was shown the brand new cinema facilities by film programmer, Paul Taylor. He also dropped in on the SQA (Scottish Qualifications Authority) Higher Dance class, where he met the pupils and the class teacher.
He found time to visit the Magic Stars’ drama class for young children, enjoying a short preview of the upcoming show, The Tough Princess. It was then on to the main stage of The Empire Theatre, where Eden Court and Scottish Ballet technical staff were constructing the set for an imminent production of Romeo & Juliet.
Prince Andrew’s tour of Eden Court concluded in the restored Bishop’s Palace, with a short reception where he met and talked to major donors, sponsors and local dignitaries. It was but the latest chapter in a long and colourful history.
Then Highland Council convenor Sandy Park said: "The Highland Council has always been a strong supporter of Eden Court and we are delighted to have been a major partner in its redevelopment and expansion. The Highlands now has a truly twenty-first century theatre facility to be proud of and I’m confident audiences and participants will continue to enjoy it for decades to come."
Thousands of performances across every imaginable genre from crowd-pleasing panto to cutting edge dance and theatre and box office smash hits have been seen at the Highland venue which still holds a fond place in the hearts of many and has become part of the collective memory of so many people since those faltering years towards completion of a visionary project which might never have made it off the drawing board.
Ahead lay further challenges with the coronavirus crisis – another potential disaster for the venue successfully negotiated in turbulent times...with another cost of living crisis lurking just around the corner...
* What was YOUR most memorable moment or performance at Eden Court? Share your memories by emailing newsdesk@hnmedia.co.uk
