George Coles (1884–1963) was an English architect, known mostly as a designer of

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

cinema theatres in the 1920s and 1930s. Coles was brought up in Leyton, East London and trained at Leyton Technical Institute. From 1912 he was in partnership with Percy Adams. Cole's most notable works include Troxy in Stepney, the

Gaumont State Cinema Gaumont State Cinema is a Grade II* listed Art Deco theatre located in Kilburn, a district in northwest London. Building Designed by George Coles and commissioned and built by Phillip and Sid Hyams, the cinema opened in 1937. The ''Gaumont St ...

in Kilburn and the Odeon, Muswell Hill, all of which are Grade II* listed buildings. Cole designed several other Odeon Cinemas for

Oscar Deutsch Oscar Deutsch (12 August 1893 – 5 December 1941)Allen Eyles, ‘Deutsch, Oscar (1893–1941)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 200accessed 29 April 2011/ref> was a British-Hungarian businessman. He was the fou ...

, as well as the Carlton Cinema in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

, and the Regal Cinema in

Kettering Kettering is a market and industrial town in North Northamptonshire, England. It is located north of London and north-east of Northampton, west of the River Ise, a tributary of the River Nene. The name means "the place (or territory) of Ket ...

. He designed the Kingsland Empire in his birthplace, Dalston, of which the ceiling and upper walls survive hidden above the Rio Cinema. Coles was also involved in the design of The People's Palace (1936) later subsumed into Queen Mary College,

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. He designed the British Home Stores (now Primark) in Rye Lane, Peckham.

References

1884 births 1963 deaths People from Leyton 20th-century English architects Art Deco architects Architects from London {{England-architect-stub