Moderne in Muswell Hill

The subdued facade of the Muswell Hill Odeon. Image from RIBApix.

The Odeon cinema at Muswell Hill opened on 9th September 1936, with the first film shown being “Educated Evans”, starring Max Miller, a now lost piece of cinema heritage. Luckily for us, this cinema is not lost. On the contrary, unlike many cinemas of its era, it is still showing films as part of the Everyman chain. The cinema sits on Fortis Green Road, part of an interwar parade, all designed by architect George Coles. Coles, born in Leyton in 1884, had trained as an architect, going into partnership with Percy Adams in 1912, before setting up in practice himself in 1925. He designed cinemas for the Gaumont chain, later becoming architect for Odeon. The chain had been founded in 1928 by Oscar Deutsch, and from 1930 began opening cinemas with the Odeon brand. A number of architects designed for the chain including Harry Weedon and Andrew Mather, with Coles designing cinemas for them from 1933. 

The auditorium at Muswell Hill Odeon. Image from RIBApix.

The Muswell Hill neighbourhood had been home to two early cinemas, the Atheneum Picture Playhouse on Fortis Green Road and the Summerlands Electric Theatre, both from the start of the 20th century. Cinema design had changed since the early days of the silver screen, with chains employing architects to produce fantastical buildings that borrowed freely from around the world, hence many suburban streets were home to cinemas dressed up as Chinese pagoda (such as Coles’ Himalayan Palace in Southall), Moorish temples and Egyptian palaces. This outlandish approach was not welcomed by the respectable neighbourhood of Muswell Hill, especially the church of St. James, opposite the new site, and so Coles designed a pared down facade for the new cinema. The cinema's entrance curves around a corner, clad in cream faience tiles in the centre and black tiles either side. The ODEON sign originally sat just above the wooden doorways, in rather small letters compared to some other cinemas of its period. ​

The foyer with the central ticket booth. Image from RIBApix.

Inside, a more expressive design was used. The foyer is double height, with horizontal streamlined decoration moving around the room, creating dynamic visual rhythm. The original ticket office was an octagonal booth in the centre of the foyer, placed inside a circular decoration on the floor. Two tall pillars flank the bottom of the stairs to the upper tiers, and the dynamic motif is carried through to the auditorium where lines along the ceiling arrive at the screen, designed to resemble a roll of film. The side walls of the auditorium also have horizontal decoration running around the perimeter, and there are octagonal clocks over the exit doors. At the same time Coles was designing the cinema for Muswell Hill, he was also producing the Odeon cinema in Ipswich, which opened the same day and featured a similar design for its interior.

The auditorium seen from the lower seats. Image from Historic England.

The ABC chain also opened a cinema in Muswell Hill in 1936, just three months after the Odeon opened. The Ritz was designed by the chain’s in-house architect, William R. Glen, and located a few minutes from the George Coles cinema. The Ritz closed down in 1978 and was demolished two years later. The Odeon cinema operated for just under 80 years. In 1974 two more screens were added under the balcony, and in March 1984 the building was Grade II listed. The cinema was purchased by the Everyman chain in April 2015, along with Odeon’s in Gerrards Cross, Esher and Barnet. Some internal changes have taken place but it stillI remains showing films to this day. 

The Muswell Hill cinema and many others are featured in A Guide to Modernism in Metro-Land. Available to order HERE