But Studio 2 at Abbey Road is now hallowed ground, the space where 186 of the Beatles’ 195 songs were recorded and where Merseybeat evolved into the sophisticated sound of “Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Abbey Road” itself.

“I still get goose pimples when I walk through the studio doors,” says David Holley, managing director of Abbey Road.

Beatles fans from all over the world make a pilgrimage to 3 Abbey Road in the St. John’s Wood neighborhood to see the road crossing in front of the building. It was there that the Beatles - with Paul McCartney famously barefoot - were photographed for the cover of the 1969 album that made Abbey Road a household name. (Until then, it was known as EMI Studios.)

Worshipers at the shrine scrawl graffiti on the gateposts, reminding the faithful that “all you need is love” and - in a sacrilegious allusion to the Rolling Stones - “it’s only rock ‘n’ roll but I like it.”

Now Beatles die-hards have their first chance in a generation to get inside: Abbey Road has opened its doors to the public for two weeks, ending next Sunday, for a film festival that celebrates 25 years of movie scoring at the studio.

Film scores ranging from “Aliens” to “The Lord of the Rings” were recorded in Studio 1, the largest purpose-built recording studio in the world. It was originally designed in 1931 to accommodate a 100-piece orchestra and a 120-member choir. It is being turned into a cinema for the duration of the festival.

It was in Studio 1 that John Williams recorded the scores for “Raiders of the Lost Ark” and “The Return of the Jedi.” More recently, composer Gabriel Yared scored the Anthony Minghella films “The English Patient,” “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and “Cold Mountain.”

“I’m very much an in-house composer. I feel this place is so inspiring,” said Yared at the studio last week.
 

FEELING THE VIBES

But its organizers know that the Beatles are behind Abbey Road’s allure (even “Lord of the Rings” director Peter Jackson and his colleagues had themselves filmed crossing the road, with Jackson barefoot). The festival films include “A Hard Day’s Night,” “Backbeat” (a 1994 drama about the group’s Hamburg years) and “Yellow Submarine.”

Photos in the accompanying exhibit in Studio 2 include one of McCartney in line at the studio cafeteria and others of the Beatles and their mentor, George Martin. There are also pictures of others who recorded in Studio 2, including Fred Astaire, Glenn Miller (who made his last record here, with singer Dinah Shore), Pink Floyd and Radiohead. Visitors have complained, however, that there aren’t enough Beatles snaps.

Modern-day bands pay $6,000 a day or more to use Studio 2. They are paying for its skilled engineers, its vintage microphones, but especially for its mystique.

“There is a lovely sound to this room, and I can hear it,” Holley says - and he doesn’t mean only the acoustics.