Rio Cinema

The Rio Cinema, also known as the Kingsland Empire and Hackney Cinema, was built in 1937 by F E Bromige, incorporating the shell of an earlier cinema constructed in 1913-15 by George Coles of Adam and Coles. The building is of rendered brick and concrete, with a nearly flat roof concealed behind high parapets. It features a circular foyer at the corner of the site, with a manager's office above and a cafe to one side. Behind the foyer is a single auditorium in Art Deco style, served by a staircase to a circle foyer. Above this, accessible from the roof, are the surviving ceilings and upper walls of Coles's earlier auditorium, in a striking, theatrical Edwardian style.

The facade is rendered with ribbed moulding in a concave front behind the foyer's drum, and an arch on the Kingsland Road front formerly displayed the name "CLASSIC" cinema. The parapet was reduced in 1944. The building’s primary significance lies in its complete 1937 auditorium. It has simple, curved mouldings to the walls and ceiling, which sweeps down to a plain proscenium opening. Vertical grilles are positioned over the screen and at the sides above emergency exits. A cut-back pyramidal moulding, originally possibly a laylight, is located under the circle. Some original light fittings remain in the sides and upper foyer.

Above the auditorium, within the void, are the rafters of Coles’s circular auditorium ceiling and moulded plaster decoration, including panels, pilasters, swags, and timber cornices. This represents an exceptionally rare survival suggesting the original Kingsland Empire was more theatrical in design and decoration than most cinemas of its era. The structure uniquely retains two distinct auditoria stacked one above the other; most cinemas were remodelled with the introduction of sound films in the 1930s.