Art Deco Icons, programme 4 [of 4]

[salymap]

Tonight at 8pm on BBC4 I wrote about this yesterday but it was rather buried on the thread for prog 2.

David Heathcote boards the Orient Express and explores the train's history as he travels from London to Venice.

And gets paid for it, lucky man

[salymap]

Well, i really enjoyed the programme on the Orient Express. Funny that David Heathcote lived in Bickley, quite near Shortlands, where I too saw the train once as a child, on its way to the coast.

So many big London cinemas were in that style in th 1930s, I think that's where I got to see it so much.

Whoops, the train we both saw in Kent was the Golden Arrow. Same sort of luxury travel though.

[Serial_Apologist]

Apart from the Forum Cimena (later Gaumont) on Fulham Road, my main intro to Art Deco was the Rainbow Room restaurant on the 5th floor of Derry & Toms in High Street Ken, and I wonder what became of that amazing and luxurious place. Unbelievably, no pictures to be found.

[Pegleg]

Apart from the Forum Cimena (later Gaumont) on Fulham Road, my main intro to Art Deco was the Rainbow Room restaurant on the 5th floor of Derry & Toms in High Street Ken, and I wonder what became of that amazing and luxurious place. Unbelievably, no pictures to be found.

Derry & Toms? There's a blast from the past. It's over a decade since I was last on High Street Ken. I only remember the building after "Biba" moved in in the early 1970's. I think it's long been the home of "Barkers", opposite Kensington Church Street. Unless I'm confusing it with the building that houses M&S. You have to be across the road and do a bit of neck straining to appreciate the exterior.

Ah, this clears up my confusion: http://www.housefraserarchive.ac.uk/company/?id=c0563

Barkers bought up Derry & Toms and it continued to trade under its own name. Once famous for its roof gardens and rainbow restaurant.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kensington_Roof_Gardens

So it's definitely the building now occupied by M&S and others. Not that the exterior of "Barkers" is unattractive.

There are few photos on google images of the "Derry & Toms building". A very good photo of exterior detail with interesting commentary here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/47071837@N02/5721345164/

The are more (low-quality) shots at: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rep...x?compid=50376

The lift hall would have very impressive.

As it is today: http://goo.gl/maps/E2mpM

[Pegleg]

I may be talking to myself here, but a small postscript re: Derry & Tom interiors. Apparently Walter Gilbert worked on cast-iron grilles and bronze panels at the dept. store. See http://archive.org/stream/WalterGilb...e/n19/mode/2up and http://www.templestone.co.uk/artdecofriezes.php

His other works are worth exploring.

[Pegleg]

Well, i really enjoyed the programme on the Orient Express. Funny that David Heathcote lived in Bickley, quite near Shortlands, where I too saw the train once as a child, on its way to the coast.

So many big London cinemas were in that style in th 1930s, I think that's where I got to see it so much.

Whoops, the train we both saw in Kent was the Golden Arrow. Same sort of luxury travel though.

Lucky man indeed! The closest I ever got to the Orient Express/Golden Arrow was gawping at the pullman carriages in Victoria station on numerous occasions. This photostream from a corporate jolly gives some idea of the food served on the train. I could just about afford the "Fortt's Bath Oliver Biscuits", but I'm not sure about the cheese.

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/kosare/tags/delllatitudelaunch/

The programme speed past as David Heathcote's palpable delight at being on the Orient Express was so infectious. From the moment he spotted Battersea Dog's Home on leaving Victoria to arriving at Venice thirsting for a beer. Bevis Hiller's input was particularly instructive and made me want to learn more about "art deco" and recap the places and sights I've experienced in London - Senate House, Unilever Building, Hoover Building, OXO building, Battersea Power Station etc.

I can't let a mention of London Cinemas pass without talking about the "Tooting Granada". For the first 11 years of my life it was my local cinema, literally a short walk from home. What a place for a first experience of the big screen! A picture place in every sense. Family outings were supplemented by Saturday morning pictures, a programme of cartoons, shorts and a blast from the great Wurlitzer, all for a tanner. In 1963 my, by then, teenage sister was amongst the screaming throng who had gone to see the "fab four". The Kinks had appeared there too.

I have a special affection for the Tooting Granda, without it you could say I would not have existed. It was where may parents had first met before the War in 1938. The rest, as they say, is history.

[salymap]

Pegleg, and don't forget the wonderful Eltham Palace, in London, SE9. Iforget the earlier life of the house but the famous Courtauld family really made it beautiful. It's sure to be on the internet somewhere, opening hours have to be checked as they seem to change regularly.

[Anna]

Saly, I confess I'd never heard of Eltham Palace but have found a short film about it by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen on youtube and there are other clips about it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvJ2VFa8FE4

[jean]

...I can't let a mention of London Cinemas pass without talking about the "Tooting Granada". For the first 11 years of my life it was my local cinema, literally a short walk from home. What a place for a first experience of the big screen! A picture place in every sense...

But Gothick, rather than Art Deco!

I lived round the corner from it from 1973 - 1990 and I did manage to see a few films there before it closed, but by then it was a very dingy shadow of its former self.

When it became a Granada Bingo hall, it underwent a splendid refurbishmernt, and I joined the Bingo club in order to be able to get inside and see it in all its glory.

But I kept putting it off because I didn't really want to play bingo. So I never visited it before I moved away.

[salymap]

Saly, I confess I'd never heard of Eltham Palace but have found a short film about it by Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen on youtube and there are other clips about it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvJ2VFa8FE4

Thanks Anna, I think Lucinda Lampton also did a programme including it. I heard from Malcolm Sargent about the Courtauld parties in the 1930s - they were very kind to him when he was young and fairly unknown and together they gave the Courtauld-Sargent concerts for Children, sadly before my time. I love that big swirly art deco carpet in the main reception room.

[Pegleg]

But Gothick, rather than Art Deco!

???

The building, which became the first cinema to be preserved and given a Grade I listing, was designed by Cecil Massey in the Art Deco style with four Corinthian style pillars over the entrance. It was the interior, however that was (and is still) spectacular. This was designed by Theodore Komisarjevsky, a set designer, making use of ornamental plasterwork by Clark and Fenn. It has marble foyers both at the main and balcony entrances, and a hall of mirrors and deep ceilings more suitable for a palace than a cinema.

There are plenty of images of the interior on Google (ticket hall and stairs, back of circles, hall of mirrors etc.) and elsewhere e.g:

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/sarflondondunc/sets/72157607427490585/

I'll let otheres decide.

[Sir Velo]

???

The building, which became the first cinema to be preserved and given a Grade I listing, was designed by Cecil Massey in the Art Deco style with four Corinthian style pillars over the entrance. It was the interior, however that was (and is still) spectacular. This was designed by Theodore Komisarjevsky, a set designer, making use of ornamental plasterwork by Clark and Fenn. It has marble foyers both at the main and balcony entrances, and a hall of mirrors and deep ceilings more suitable for a palace than a cinema.

There are plenty of images of the interior on Google (ticket hall and stairs, back of circles, hall of mirrors etc.) and elsewhere e.g:

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/sarflondondunc/sets/72157607427490585/

I'll let otheres decide.

Well worth a decko; and, er, definitely Deco. Think someone needs to attend some art history courses!

[Pegleg]

Parts of the auditorium are certainly cathedral like, but not its ceiling as I remeber. And, to my mind, the were others parts inside that bear the hall marks of art deco. I'll leave it at that.

[jean]

I was thinking mostly of the interior, which was by Theodore Komisarjevsky, and doesn't match the exterior at all:

The entire interior of the theatre was designed in a Gothic style by famed Russian stage set designer Theodore Komisarjevsky. On the side walls at balcony level are a series of panels with painted murals of medieval figures painted by Alex Johnson from small originals by Lucien Le Blanc...

You have closeups of some of these in your series of images above - here they are in a larger context:





Not a very archaeologically correct Gothic of course, which is why I called it Gothick. More Horace Walpole than Pugin.

[Pegleg]

Point taken. This website lists those theatres and cinemas that Fyodor Fyodorovich Komissarzhevsky (3 May 1882 – 17 April 1954) worked on as an interior design consultant:

http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/TheatreArchitects.htm#theo

Theodore Komisarjevsky's Theatres featured on this site:

Granada Woolwich
Phoenix Theatre, London
Gaumont Theatre, Manchester

And Theatres by Komisarjevsky not yet listed on the site:
Granada, Bedford
Granada, Clapham Junction
Granada, East Ham
Granada, Dover
Granada, Kingston
Granada, Harrow
Granada, Maidstone
Granada, Shrewsbury
Granada, Tooting
Granada, Walthamstow
Granada, Willesden
Empire, Edmonton
Empire, West Ham
Empire, Willesden


I've seen films at the Tooting, Kingston, Clapham Junction and Harrow cinemas. None of them rivalled the opulent interior of the Tooting Granada. But of the rest on the list the Woolwich Granada is another marvel. It's a cinema I've never set foot in, with a decidedly “art deco” exterior but an interior very much like that at Tooting.

http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/WoolwichTheatres/WoolwichGranadaSouvenir/WoolwichGranadaSouvenir.htm

We have it in Komissarzhevsky own words, circa 1937, as he describes the “Italian Gothic style” interior, and elements of this Italianate style can be seen at his other theatre/cinemas.

Woolwich photos as of 2011: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stagedo...n/photostream/

Kingston Granada, with clear art deco influence outside and in:

http://www.flickriver.com/photos/oldcinemaphotos/sets/72157603191661241/

Clapham Junction interior:

http://www.scottishcinemas.org.uk/uk/london/claphamjunction/index.html#2006_1013Image0194.html

http://www.cinema-theatre.org.uk/atrisk/granada_claphamjunct.htm

Harrow Granada (now a gym):
[url]http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/21137[/ur]


The sad fate of others: http://www.dover.freeuk.com/entertai...as/granada.htm


Basic details of cinemas: design, ownership, major events:

http://www.theatrestrust.org.uk/resources/theatres/show/2557-granada-east-ham

http://cinematreasures.org/theaters/19256