Odeon Art Deco

Last week I had occasion to go to Enfield and, on walking through a business park, I spotted the building below:

A 1930s building in the Odeon Art Deco style. I was surprised, on walking round the rear, to find out it's now a Travis Perkins depot.

It is Grade II listed and was constructed for the Ripaults firm, which manufactured automotive electrical cables and components. Designed by A.H. Durnford around 1930-1936, it was an industrial building rather than a cinema, reflecting Art Deco’s influence on industrial architecture at the time. Ripaults occupied the site until at least 1973, after which it was used by MAN truck manufacturers before being taken over by Travis Perkins in 2015.

OK, it's not Odeon Art Deco, but purely Art Deco. It's just that so many Odeon cinemas in the 30s were designed in the Art Deco style and they were the most eye-catching examples. The classic Art Deco style of many Odeon cinemas across the UK was largely the work of architect Harry Weedon and his team. Weedon, an architect from Birmingham, took on the role of designing cinemas for Odeon founder Oscar Deutsch in the 1930s.

Weedon's team, particularly through the contributions of Cecil Clavering and other assistants, developed the Odeon's distinct look, combining Art Deco elements with a streamlined, modernist approach that created buildings both functional and visually striking. Characteristic features included sleek horizontal lines, geometric shapes, and use of materials like glass and chrome.

While Weedon led the design direction, it's worth noting that several architects contributed to the iconic Odeon style, making it a collaborative effort that resulted in some of the UK's most memorable cinema architecture.

There are many such buildings (not Odeon conemas) which are absolutely gorgeous. Below is the Hoover building in Slough.

And here is the Gillette building in Reading.