Embassy Cinema, Chadwell Heath
Gaumont Palace Theatre, Gaumont Theatre, Odeon Chadwell Heath | |
 The Embassy Cinema, Facade by Night | |
 | |
| Address | High Road Chadwell Heath Greater London, UK |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 51°34′12″N 0°07′42″E / 51.569935°N 0.128395°E |
| Owner | Vinod Nagrecha & Hasmukh Nagrecha |
| Designation | Asset of Community Value |
| Capacity | Originally 1,812 |
| Current use | Banqueting Suite/Conference Centre |
| Construction | |
| Years active | 1934-1966 |
| Architect | Harry Weston |
| Tenants | |
| Mayfair Venue - Mr Wazid Hassan (Shelim) | |
The Embassy Cinema is a former cinema in the town of Chadwell Heath, Greater London.[1] 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.[2]
History
Early Cinema Years, 1934-1966
The Embassy Cinema was opened on the 17th May 1934 by the Mayor of Ilford, Alderman B.S.J Pitt.[3] It featured 1,812 seats: 1,232 in the stalls and 580 in the circle. A number of local newspapers cited it as "the last word in splendour and comfort".[4] Construction began in mid-December 1933, and the majority of it lasted for only twenty-two weeks. It was designed and part-owned by the architect Harry Weston, and was the second of eight cinemas that he is known to have designed. He had previously designed the Plaza Cinema in Worthing (1933)[5] and went on to design another six cinemas during the 1930s, mostly for the Gaumont British Picture Corporation. It was known as a 'Super Cinema' as it also incorporated theatre, staging live variety shows and orchestral/organ performances.[6] The Managing Directors, Charles A. Sinden and Mr P. Lyons, as well as the Secretary of 'Embassy (Chadwell Heath) Ltd.', Mr R. Teppett, were instrumental in the creation of the cinema.
'A Short Story about The Embassy', a history of the cinema produced by Lyons, was one of the first films to be shown on the opening night.[7] The programme was continued with a Mickey Mouse Disney cartoon, 'Fury of the Jungle' featuring Donald Cook and Peggy Shannon, and Constance Cummings in Broadway Through a Keyhole.[8]
Five months after The Embassy Cinema opened, it was taken over by Provincial Cinematograph Theatres (PCT) as part of the Gaumont chain, and operated as the 'Gaumont Palace Theatre' from October 1934.[9] It ran throughout the Second World War and was never sub-divided.
The Gaumont Palace Theatre was re-named 'Gaumont Theatre', from 1937, and continued under Gaumont British management. After the Second World War, Picture Palaces all over Britain began free entertainment for children. This was known as 'The Saturday Morning Picture Club'. A published extract from the memories of a local resident of Chadwell Heath, Patricia Duyshart, described the frivolities in depth:
"The Gaumont Cinema in Chadwell Heath issued all children with free passes that were shown on entry. Long before opening time, huge crowds of squabbling children were queuing up outside the cinema, all of them trying to push in the line...When the doors at last opened, there was the biggest rush you ever saw... In February 1964, the Gaumont Theatre was taken over by the Rank Organisation and re-named the Odeon Chadwell Heath. However, it ultimately closed as a cinema on 28th July 1966 with James Garner in Duel at Diablo and Bob Hope in 'Boy, Did I Get A Wrong Number' as the final screenings.[10]
Bingo Hall, 1966–2014
Within hours of the closing of the doors, to the Odeon Chadwell Heath, workmen moved in to convert the cinema into a Bingo Hall.[11] The auditorium was completely redecorated, and the foyer was transformed into a buffet.[12] The projectors and Compton organ were sold, and the large screen was removed. It was to be open for seven days a week with two matinees on Mondays and Thursdays. The Bingo hall was the fifty-second ever Rank club, but the first Rank hall in the area – the premises was re-named as 'The Top Rank Club'.[13]
The opening night was hosted by Tommy Trinder (CBE).[14][15]
Top Rank's area manager stated: "We decided to go over to bingo in June, because there are already plenty of cinemas – in Whalebone Lane and Romford – but very few bingo halls in this part of London."[This quote needs a citation]
The hall was equipped with a closed-circuit television and direct contact via teleprinters, to enable the bingo players to compete with Top Rank Club members in the 52 other halls all over Britain.
Decades later, the club began operating as a Mecca Bingo.
The hall closed on 15th June 2014. More than 400 people attended the final night of bingo. Falling membership meant that the owners, Rank Plc, believe it financially viable to renew the lease. The smoking ban in England, as well as the Great Recession, had been the main factors in the loss of members.
Banqueting Suite, 2015-present
After a short vacant period, the premises was bought by Wazid Hassan (Shelim). The refurbishment process lasted for nine months, and the building re-opened as the current Mayfair Venue, for weddings and other functions, in December 2015.[16] The Mayor of Redbridge, Councillor Barbara White, attended the grand opening with around 800 guests. Hassan stated to reporters:
"Keeping the original building the same as the old one, that was our main concern."[17]
On 17 March 2017, Hassan applied to Redbridge Council to change the use of the building officially into a banqueting suite/conference centre.[18]
Restoration Project
On 8 August 2017, the Chadwell Heath South Residents' Association successfully listed The Embassy Cinema as an Asset of Community Value.[19]
The team then launched 'The Embassy Cinema Restoration Project', with the goal of restoring the building back into a repertory cinema/theatre.
Architecture
Harry Weston designed The Embassy Cinema in a more lavish style than would have been usual for a Gaumont Cinema. Its façade had a Modernist horizontal emphasis, faced in cream/'biscuit' coloured faience tiling above and black faience tiles below, with chromium plated fittings, enhanced by neon strip lighting and illuminated signs at night. There is a large window over the entrance which allows light into the ballroom. The double-height entrance foyer behind featured Art Deco metalwork and a floodlit glass column of crystalline rods. The auditorium originally had a ‘saucered’ floor to improve sight-lines from the seats. The splay walls featured horizontal fins which extended across decorative panels and grillwork, leading towards the proscenium arch which was backlit from the rim.
Many of these features have survived, and show how Weston carried his Art Deco/streamline moderne style throughout all of his cinema’s spaces and details.[20]
Features
The Embassy Cinema encompassed a number of innovative ideas, some of which were unknown in the cinema world at the time.[citation needed] It featured a tea-lounge and artistic café, as well as a ballroom for dancing to the sound of a live orchestra.
A 24-foot deep stage and orchestra pit, in the auditorium, could accommodate live performances as there were also four adjacent dressing rooms. The large screen was controlled by a mechanism, that could make it move backwards and forwards. When a picture was showing it was lowered towards the audience, thereby minimising eye-strain.[21] The latest system of Western Electric wide-range apparatus provided rich sound quality and substantially high production value; Sinden and Lyons wanted to ensure that hearing would be perfect from every seat in the house. Concealed lighting was fitted throughout the building, and controlled from the roof, to achieve special, flat skylight effects.
To lower the levels of humidity, the air, to the amount of two million cubic feet per hour, was drawn into a purifying chamber by huge, electric fans. It was then filtered, washed, heated and cooled by means of this inventive ventilation system; thus ensuring equable temperature in all seasons.
The projector room was large enough to contain three to five projectors, and lighting control boxes for the stage, balcony and auditorium (manufactured by 'Major Equipment Co. Ltd' of Westminster).
The auditorium housed a Compton 3-manual/8-rank organ. The glass console of the organ had a unique green colour scheme, and the special illumination was an idea introduced by Lyons; an innovation that he perfected years earlier, and one of the first of its kind in Britain.[citation needed]
The decoration scheme followed lines of effective simplicity, with the dominating colour of the wall being old gold.[22] The seats were of the tip-up variety, upholstered in green velvet. The carpets were green and beige, whilst the curtains, hangings (and even the uniforms of the ushers and attendants) also embodied the same colour scheme.
See also
References
Citations
- ^ Odeon Chadwell Heath, Cinema Treasures Guide
- ^ Map of Redbridge Assets of Community Value, London Borough of Redbridge.
- ^ "The Stage and Screen, Next Week's Programmes by Spotlight", The Dagenham Post, 11th May 1934, Page 8
- ^ "New Luxury Cinema at Chadwell Heath", The Dagenham Post, 11th May 1934, Page 5
- ^ Plaza Cinema, Worthing, Cinema Treasures Guide.
- ^ http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/14646
- ^ "Embassy Cinema. Mayor Performs the Opening Ceremony.", The Ilford Recorder, 24th May 1934, Page 9
- ^ "Embassy Cinema - Advertisement", The Ilford Recorder, 17th May 1934, Page 3
- ^ http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/14646
- ^ http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/14646
- ^ "Cinema man turns to bingo", Barking and Dagenham Post, 3rd August 1966, Page 1
- ^ "New Bingo Hall Opens Tomorrow", Barking and Dagenham Post, 17th August 1966, Page 11
- ^ "Full house as another cinema switches to bingo", The Ilford Recorder, 25th August 1966, Page 6
- ^ "So much fun – so much to be WON playing BINGO at the Top Rank Club", Barking and Dagenham Post; 3rd August 1966, Page 2
- ^ "New look bingo", The Romford Times, 26th August 1966, Page 10
- ^ http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/14646
- ^ "Historic Chadwell Heath cinema reopens as banqueting suite", Ilford Recorder, 17th December 2015
- ^ Mayfair Venue, Change of Use Application, 1217/17, London Borough of Redbridge
- ^ Redbridge - Community Right to Bid
- ^ The Embassy Cinema - Report to London Borough of Redbridge, Cinema Theatre Association, Architectural Caseworker's Report, Peter Wylde, 2017
- ^ "Mayor to Open a Luxury Cinema, Last Word in Beauty and Comfort, Chadwell Enterprise", The Ilford Recorder, 17th May 1934, Page 9
- ^ "Cinema Uplift, Mayor Hopes That American Slang Will Go", The Romford Times, 23rd May 1934, Page 3
Sources
- Grimwood, Bob (1995). "Chadwell Heath". The Cinemas of Essex. The King's England. ISBN 9780946406364.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|chapterurl=(help) - Webb, Malcolm (1986). "Gaumont Palace". The Amber Valley Gazeteer of Greater London's Suburban Cinemas 1946-86. Amber Valley Typesetting Services. ISBN 9780950927299.
{{cite book}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter:|chapterurl=(help) - Eyles, Allen (1996). "Chadwell". Gaumont British Cinemas. BFI Publishing. ISBN 9780851705194.
{{cite book}}: External link in|chapterurl=|chapterurl=ignored (|chapter-url=suggested) (help)
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