Richmond Odeon

The Odeon was built as a ciné-variety house in atmospheric style. It opened with variety.

The auditorium was intended to evoke a seventeenth century Spanish nobleman’s courtyard house. The coffering and weathered oak beams over the balcony formed a loggia from which the audience looked out over an open courtyard with steep pitched, terracotta tiled roofs and side loggias surrounded by olive trees. Foliage tumbled over the balconies and peeped over the roofs, and banners were draped over the balcony rails, like carpets airing in the sun. Much of the decoration survives, though a wide screen obscures the proscenium arch and the original holophane ‘sunrise to sunset’ effect of the ceiling lights have been removed. The wide stage and the dressing rooms are intact, and have, since opening, seen large shows and hosted the local symphony orchestra.

The façade is in the restrained, Art Deco influenced Classical tradition of the 1920s, with neo-Egyptian touches, and green pantiled roofs over the flats and shops that lie in front of the auditorium block in Hill Street.