| Odeon Kingstanding | |
|---|---|
 The building in 2014, showing the "Mecca" branding | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | |
| Location | Kingstanding, Birmingham, England |
| Coordinates | 52°33′13″N1°53′08″W / 52.5536°N 1.8856°W |
| Opened | 22 July 1935 |
| Owner | Mecca Bingo |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect(s) | |
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 cinema was constructed between 1935 and 1936 to a symmetrical, modernist, art deco design by Harry Weedon and Cecil Clavering, [1] [2] the latter having joined the former's practice, as an assistant, in 1933. [3] It was commissioned as an independent cinema, and was due to be called "The Beacon", [2] after nearby Barr Beacon, but Oscar Deutsch became involved, and the cinema opened as part of his Odeon chain on 22 July 1935. [2] It was built to serve Kingstanding's new, 4,000-home working-class housing estate [4] and had 968 seats in the stalls and 324 in the circle. The first film was The Lives of a Bengal Lancer , starring Gary Cooper. [2]
The brick building [1] occupies a wedge-shaped site between Kings Road and Kettlehouse Road, overlooking and facing Kingstanding Circle. The centre of the glazed cream and black tile (" faience ") frontage features three slender fins, also finished with faience, above a stepped brick parapet. [1] [5] Clavering, inspired by the Lichtburg cinema in Berlin, originally intended that these fins would be topped by a searchlight. [6] [7]
The cinema closed on 1 December 1962, the final film being To Hell and Back , starring Audie Murphy. [2]
The building was refurbished and opened as a Top Rank Bingo Club, subsequently becoming a Mecca Bingo Club, in which use it continues. [8]
It was given Grade-II listed status by English Heritage just 44 years after its erection, on 10 October 1980. [1] It has been described as "one of the best surviving examples of Odeon cinemas in Britain". [3]
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 Rank Group plc is a gambling company based in the United Kingdom. Rank was involved in the cinema and motion picture industry until 2006, and continues to use the Gongman logo originally used by the Rank Organisation's film distribution subsidiary General Film Distributors. Its brands now include Mecca Bingo, and Grosvenor Casinos, the UK's largest casino operator.
Oscar Deutsch was a British businessman. He was the founder of Odeon Cinemas in 1928, with the flagship cinema, the Odeon, Leicester Square in London, opening in 1937.
Odeon may refer to:
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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".
Kingstanding is an area in north Birmingham, England. It gives its name to a ward in the Erdington council constituency. Kingstanding ward includes the areas; Perry Common, Witton Lakes. The other part of Kingstanding falls under the Oscott ward.
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.
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The Birmingham Odeon is a cinema and former concert venue located in Birmingham, England.
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The Grosvenor Picture Palace, now known as the Footage, is a former cinema and current pub at the corner of Grosvenor Street and Oxford Road in Chorlton-on-Medlock, Manchester, United Kingdom. Built in 1913–15, it was the largest cinema outside London in its day. It is now a Stonegate pub.
Towers Cinema was a former cinema in Hornchurch, England. It was built in 1935 on part of the former Grey Towers estate and was noted for its Art Deco style of architecture. From 1973 it was used as a bingo hall until it closed in 2015. Despite the efforts of a local campaign to preserve the structure and to have it listed by Historic England, the building was demolished to make way for a Lidl supermarket.
The Embassy Cinema is a former cinema in the town of Chadwell Heath, Greater London. It was once known, among locals, as The Gaumont. It was designed in an art deco style, with a streamline moderne interior, by Harry Weston in 1934. The building is situated on the border of Redbridge and Barking & Dagenham, in the Chadwell Heath District Centre. The cinema closed in 1966 and became a Bingo Hall. In 2015, following the closure of the Bingo Hall, it was then used as a wedding hall/banqueting suite. The building was listed as an Asset of Community Value by the 'Chadwell Heath South Residents' Association' in August 2017 and is currently the focus of a major cinema restoration project.
The Odeon Cinema is a Grade II listed building immediately west of the city centre of York, in England.
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.
