The White Elephant: The Rayners Lane Grosvenor Cinema

The Rayners Lane Grosvenor Cinema with its original name sign. Image from Dusahenka on Flickr.

The Rayners Lane Grosvenor Cinema opened on 12th October 1936, with a showing of ‘The Country Doctor’ starring Jean Hersholt. The cinema was part of the small Hammond Dawes circuit, and was partially paid for by the housing developers T.F. Nash, who had built Harrow Garden Village at Rayners Lane from 1929 and wanted suitable attractions to entice new suburbanites to the development. The new cinema was designed by architect Frank Ernest Bromige, who had previously designed a number of cinemas, including the streamlined Dominion Southall (1936, now demolished) and the Dominion in Harrow, with its curving facade hidden until its recent restoration. ​

The now-demolished Dominion Cinema in Southall by FE Bromige. Image from Dusashenka on Flickr.

For the cinema at Rayners Lane, Bromige produced one of his, and suburban cinemas, most memorable designs. The cinema is built as part of a typical interwar parade, opposite Rayners Lane Underground Station, which was rebuilt in 1938 by R.H. Uren and Charles Holden. The frontage has a three part facade made up of two tall large glass convex sections which flank a large central concave window above the entrance. In front of this concave window is a curved vertical concrete feature, often said to resemble an elephant's trunk. Bromige actually referred to this feature as a stylised question mark, but the association with an elephant's trunk has stuck. The feature was highlighted with neon lighting, and in front of it was a revolving vertical name sign, with GROSVENOR spelt out in chunky letters.

The auditorium of the Rayners Lane Grovesnor with its dynamic ceiling lighting.

Inside the streamlined aesthetic continued, with the foyers curving into one another and decorated with circular mirrors, uplighters, carpets with geometric patterns, and tubular steel furniture and railings.The centerpiece of the ground floor was the cafe area with its sunken floor and artfully arranged oval lighting troughs. The auditorium itself could seat over 1200 patrons, and was decorated with dynamic lighting that led the viewer's eye towards the screen. 

A metal railing on a staircase inside the Rayners Lane Grovesnor. Image from Dusashenka on Flickr.

The cinema joined the Odeon chain in 1937, and remained with them until 1950 when it joined Gaumont. After again becoming part of Odeon in 1961, it became the independant Ace cinema in 1981, finally closing on 16th October 1986. After that it was converted into a pub and nightclub with various alterations made to the interior including a helicopter and light aircraft attached to the auditorium ceiling. After a period where the building changed hands rapidly it was finally bought by a chapter of the Zoroastrian religion. They made great efforts to change the building back to somewhat of its original form, with it having been listed in 1981 and upgraded to Grade II* in 1984. The Zoroastrian’s are rightly proud of the building and open it up for tours on Heritage weekends and for the Open House London festival.

The Rayners Lane Grosvenor featured in A Guide to Modernism in Metro-Land, our guidebook from 2020. The follow up volume, Modernism Beyond Metro-Land, featuring the best art deco and modernist buildings of the eastern and southern suburbs is crowdfunding now, and has reached 94%. Help us get the guide published and get your copy HERE.