Odeon Leicester Square

• Theatre ID
  2070
• Built / Converted
  1937
• Dates of use
  • 1937: onward (occasional only)
• Current state
  Extant
• Current use
  Cinema
• Address
  23-27 Leicester Square, Westminster, London, England

Details

The site has played a crucial part in the history of public entertainment in London, having been occupied in turn by the Royal Panopticon and the Alhambra ( a conversion of the Panopticon) in a series of guises, as the Alhambra Circus, Alhambra Palace Music Hall, etc, rivalling the Empire as (inter alia) a variety palace and, for a time, a home for the otherwise neglected art of the ballet. The Odeon which replaced the Alhambra in 1937, does not at once spring to mind as a live theatre, but it was, in fact, built with a big stage. In some ways, its history has been an architectural tragedy. The striking black granite exterior with its 36.5m (120ft) high cubist tower has had some minor alteration, but the original interior was all but destroyed in 1967. The story might serve as a horrible warning to all who believe that anything old needs to be brought ‘into the present day’. The Odeon auditorium had one of the finest interiors of its time, using coved light, rippled surfaces and figure relief by Briton Riviere to outstanding effect. The modernisers, following the latest five-minute fashion, bashed it all into a state of insensibility. Later works have been directed to retrieving the situation and, in particular, Riviere’s elegant ‘flying ladies’ have been recreated, but a truly civilised society would restore this key monument to a perfect state.

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• Events
  • 1937 Use: onward (occasional only)
  • 1937 Design/Construction:
    • Harry Weedon with Andrew Mather (job architects Horace Ward & Thomas Braddock) & Eric Lyon - Architect
  • 1940 Alteration: repaired after bomb damage
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1953 Alteration: wide screen facility installed
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1967 Alteration: altered internally and externally; auditorium mutilated
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1975 Alteration: auditorium again altered
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1987 Alteration: façade and advertising panel altered; auditorium reseated; decorative lighting installed
    • Dry Butlin Bicknall - Architect
  • 1998 Alteration: auditorium refurbished; foyer remodelled; exterior balcony constructed
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1937 Design/Construction:
    • Raymond Britton Riviere - Consultant: Auditorium Decoration And Lighting
• Capacities
  • Original: 2116
• Listings
  • Grade Unknown
• Unreliable anecdotes
  Not to be confused with Odeon West End, also in Leicester Square (ex Leicester Square Theatre)