Kemp & Tasker

Leslie H Kemp and Frederick E Tasker were English architects who practiced in the 1930s as Kemp & Tasker.

They are best known for their cinemas, although they are responsible for a number of notable buildings in South London and Kent for a Messrs Morrell Bros. Builders ^[1] of 60 High Street, Bromley, Kent. These include:

Motor Showrooms, Garage and Restaurant, 38 - 40 Croydon Road, Coney Hall, Hayes, Kent
Dorchester Court flats, Herne Hill, London
5 Dorchester Drive, Herne Hill, London
Tudor Stacks, Dorchester Drive, Herne Hill, London (demolished)

In 1934 a Kemp and Tasker house design won the Daily Mail's Ideal House Competition and was erected temporarily at Olympia in the 'Village of Tomorrow' ^[2] at Ideal Home Show the following year. Morrell's glossy brochure ^[3] advertised that it could be built to order anywhere and three known examples exist:

77 Addington Road, Hayes, Kent
10 Dorchester Drive, Herne Hill, London
Stanstead, Mount Merrion, Dublin, Ireland (1936)^[4]

Cinemas

1932 Regent Cinema, Station Square, Paignton, Devon (demolished)
1933 Odeon Cinema, Whalebone Lane, Chadwell Heath, Essex(demolished)
1934 Ritz Cinema, Gordon Street, Luton
1935 Embassy Cinema, Braintree, Essex
Towers Cinema, Hornchurch, Essex^[5]
1935 Savoy Cinema, Petersfield, Hants.
1936 Ritz Cinema, Belfast, Northern Ireland^[6]
1940 Regal Cinema (ABC from 1961), Camberwell (closed 1973)
Commodor Cinema, High Street, Orpington, Kent (demolished)
Odeon Cinema, Greenwich, London (demolished)
Odeon Cinema, Hornchurch, Essex
Odeon Cinema, Romford, Essex
Odeon Cinema, St. Albans, Hertfordshire
Odeon Cinema, Stepney, London
Rex Cinema, Wood Green, London

References

^ Hayes and Coney Hall walk notes, The Twentieth Century Society, 2007
^ The Ideal Home Through the 20th Century, Deborah S Ryan, 1997
^ Sales Brochure, held by Local Studies Library, Bromley, Kent
^ Free State Architecture, Paul Larmour, Gandon Editions, 2009
^ Cherry, Bridget; O'Brien, Charles; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2005). The Buildings of England: London. Vol. 5. East. London, New Haven, [Conn.]: Yale University Press. p. 178. ISBN 9780300107012. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
^ Fading Lights, Silver Screens, A History of Belfast Cinemas, Michael Open, p 71

[1] Hayes and Coney Hall walk notes, The Twentieth Century Society, 2007

[2] The Ideal Home Through the 20th Century, Deborah S Ryan, 1997

[3] Sales Brochure, held by Local Studies Library, Bromley, Kent

[4] Free State Architecture, Paul Larmour, Gandon Editions, 2009

[Pevsner-5] Cherry, Bridget; O'Brien, Charles; Pevsner, Nikolaus (2005). The Buildings of England: London. Vol. 5. East. London, New Haven, [Conn.]: Yale University Press. p. 178. ISBN 9780300107012. Retrieved 12 October 2016.

[6] Fading Lights, Silver Screens, A History of Belfast Cinemas, Michael Open, p 71

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