The Odeon Cinema is a Grade II listed building immediately west of the city centre of York, in England.
The Odeon Cinemas chain was keen to build a cinema in York, but it could not gain permission to construct a large building within the York city walls. Initial plans were toned down, and the resulting building is almost entirely of brown brick, with none of the tiles which often feature in Harry Weedon's work. Following these changes, permission was granted to build on Blossom Street, just outside the walls. [1] [2]
The building opened as an Odeon Cinema on 1 February 1937. It was designed by Harry Weedon, with the assistance of Robert Bullivant, and with interiors attributed to Lily Deutsch. The construction cost £40,500. On opening, it had 1,484 seats: 934 in the stalls and 550 on the balcony. In 1972, it was converted to have three screens, with the balcony extended forward to form one 800-seat space and the rear of the former stalls split into two smaller screens, each with 111 seats. It was listed in 1981. [2] [3] [4]
The building is in the Art Deco style, and has a low front range, with a three-storey range behind, a tower to the left, and two-storey wings on either side. Part of the front range is occupied by shops. The tower retains an illuminated "Odeon" sign, rendered in Roman capital letters, not the chain's usual style. [3]
Odeon planned to close the cinema in 2003, with a 13,000-name petition leading to a short reprieve. It closed in 2006, but reopened in 2009 as part of the Reel Cinemas chain. In 2017, it was purchased by Everyman Cinemas and renovated to accommodate four screens, each with sofa seating. [5]
The official listing notes that "the architecture ... is well designed and executed, and is a good example of Odeon cinema design" and that original windows survive, along with some original design elements and ancillary rooms. [3] John Brooke Fieldhouse describes it as having "... the overall texture of a building belonging to an ancient civilisation". [2]
The Odeon Luxe Leicester Square is a prominent cinema building in the West End of London. Built in the Art Deco style and completed in 1937, the building has been continually altered in response to developments in cinema technology, and was the first Dolby Cinema in the United Kingdom.
The Odeon Luxe West End is a two-screen cinema on the south side of Leicester Square, London. It has historically been used for smaller film premieres and hosting the annual BFI London Film Festival. The site is on an adjacent side of the square to the much larger flagship Odeon Luxe Leicester Square.
Oscar Deutsch was a British entrepreneur who was the founder of Odeon Cinemas, the largest cinema chain in the United Kingdom. He opened his first cinema in Brierley Hill, Staffordshire in 1928, with the chain's flagship cinema, the Odeon, Leicester Square in London, opening in 1937.
Odeon Cinemas Limited, trading as Odeon, is a cinema brand name operating in the United Kingdom, Ireland, Norway and Greece, which along with UCI Cinemas and Nordic Cinema Group is part of the Odeon Cinemas Group subsidiary of AMC Theatres. It uses the famous name of the Odeon cinema circuit first introduced in Great Britain in 1930. As of 2016, Odeon is the largest cinema chain in the United Kingdom by market share.
Harold William "Harry" Weedon was an English architect. Although he designed a large number of buildings during a long career, he is best known for his role overseeing the Art Deco designs of the Odeon Cinemas for Oscar Deutsch in the 1930s. Influenced by the work of Erich Mendelsohn and Hans Poelzig – the Odeons "taught Britain to love modern architecture" and form "a body of work which, with London Underground stations, denotes the Thirties like nothing else".
The former Newport Odeon, which traded as an entertainment and events venue, The NEON, until 2023 is a Grade II listed building in the city of Newport, South Wales. It is located at the junction of Clarence Place and Chepstow Road on the east side of Newport city centre, near Newport Bridge. The building is one of the few true examples of Art Deco architecture in Newport.
The Whiteladies Picture House is a cinema on Whiteladies Road in Clifton, Bristol, England.
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The ABC Cinema was a cinema in Wakefield, West Yorkshire that fell into derelition after its closure. Located in Kirkgate on the corner of Sun Lane, it was designed and built in the Art Deco style for Associated British Cinemas by in-house architect William R. Glen and opened as the Regal Cinema on 9 December 1935.
John Cecil Clavering OBE was an English architect, best known for his work designing Odeon Cinemas as part of Harry Weedon's architectural practice in the 1930s, and his later work as the architect of the Public Record Office in Kew, London.
New Wine Church is a non-denominational Christian megachurch in Southeast London. The church originally met in a leased facility. They then purchased and renovated one of four cinemas in Woolwich. The 3,000-member church occupies the former Coronet cinema complex and overlooks the Woolwich Ferry.
Bradford Odeon is the name applied to two different cinemas in central Bradford, West Yorkshire, England. One, in Godwin Street, was built in 1930 and survives; the other, in Manchester Road, was built in 1938 and demolished in 1969.
The Burton Cummings Theatre is a theatre located in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Built by local impresario Corliss Powers Walker, it was originally known as the Walker Theatre. The building was renamed after singer-songwriter and Winnipeg native Burton Cummings in 2002.
The Odeon at Kingstanding, Birmingham, was a 1930s cinema in the Odeon chain. Though closed as a cinema in 1962, the building survives as a bingo hall, and is Grade II listed.
The Odeon Cinema, Manchester was a former Odeon Cinema located on Oxford Street, Manchester, England. It was close to St. Peter's Square, within the Civic Quarter of Manchester city centre. It was demolished in April 2017, and replaced by Landmark, a 14-storey office building, as part of a major transformation of the area.
The Everyman Gerrards Cross is a cinema located in Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, England. Originally known as The Playhouse, it has continually served Gerrards Cross as a cinema since it first opened in 1925 and is the oldest cinema in Buckinghamshire. It has been owned by several cinema chains and is currently operated by Everyman Cinemas.
Storyhouse is a large, mixed-use cultural building in Chester, England, which opened in May 2017. The complex includes a theatre, cinema, restaurant and the city library. It is housed in the remodelled 1936 Odeon Cinema, a grade-II-listed building, together with a newly built extension to hold the theatre auditorium.
Scott Cinema was a cinema in Bridgwater, Somerset England. Built in 1936, it was notable for its Art Deco style.
The Empire Cinema, formerly the Odeon Cinema, is a cinema in Maney, Sutton Coldfield in West Midlands, England. Built in 1936, it is notable for its Art Deco style. It is a Grade II listed building. It closed in 2020; its future re-opening, as the Royal Cinema, was announced in December 2023.
The Odeon Cinema is a cinema in Harrogate, in North Yorkshire, England. Built in 1936, it is notable for its Art Deco style. It is a Grade II listed building.