Moorish

Ealing used to have 4 cinemas. The ABC in the Broadway, The Walpole on the High Street, another ABC which became Studio 1 & 2 in West Ealing and then the Odeon on Northfields Avenue. Now there are none.

The nearest to where I grew up, and the site of my Saturday Morning Pictures, was Northfields Odeon. As you can see it is now a church. Architects of the art deco period often took their influences from abroad. Usually the Egytians as Howard Carters discovery of Tuttenkhamuns Tomb had made a big splash. Northfields Odeon was of Moorish influence. Ceramic placques adorn the top line, these on the side being in slightly better condition than the ones along the front, and the lights were more of a burning torch design than the tradition Odeon fan style. Inside the Moorish/Spanish style continued. There were boxes for cinema goers which were styled as small spanish haciendas. It was quite exotic for West London.

I must go inside sometime to see if all the interior is still there. Certainly the foyer still seems to be pretty much intact.

Somehow I can't imagine the Blippers of 2090 taking a shot of the Multiplex cinema on Western Avenue and waxing lyrical on the aesthetic style. Then again, stranger things have happpened.