Odeon East Dulwich

Located in the southeast London district of East Dulwich, on Grove Vale near the northwest corner of Tintagel Crescent. The Pavilion Cinema was built on the site of the earlier Pavilion Cinema, formerly Imperial Hall of 1902 (which has its own page on Cinema Treasures).

The new Pavilion Cinema was independently operated and opened on 30th July 1936 with Betty Fields in "On Top Of The World". The popular comedy & singing duo Flanagan & Allen made a personal appearance. A feature of the exterior were three tall wedged shape fins which were faced in black Vitrolite and had the names Pavilion & Cinema in large red neon letters. The auditorium was wide, rather than long, and had a decorative 12 feet high light fitting on each side of the proscenium. There were also troughs of concealed lighting in the ceiling. Seating was provided in stalls and a balcony. The Pavilion Cinema had a café and a car park for the convenience of its patrons.

The Pavilion Cinema was taken over by Oscar Deutsch’s Odeon Theatres Ltd. chain in August 1937, and it was re-named Odeon in around 1939.

The Odeon was closed by the Rank Organisation on 21st October 1972 with "The Burglars"(Le Casse) starring Jean-Paul Belmondo. On 7th June 1973, the building was sold to the Divine Light Mission and became a Palace of Peace Temple to the followers of 15 year old Guju Maharaj-Ji from India. In 1978, the building was purchased by the London Clock Company and converted into offices and a warehouse and it was named London House. They installed a floor across from the front of the balcony to the rear wall behind where the screen originally was placed. The firm moved out of the building in July 2000 and it was place on the market ‘For Sale’ and purchased by a development company. It was demolished in April 2001, and a housing project was built on the site.

Get Movie Tickets & Showtimes

Recent comments (view all 2 comments)

Want to be emailed when a new comment is posted about this theater?
Just login to your account and subscribe to this theater.