The Academy

IN THE ENTRY FOR:-

STOCKWELL ROAD, SW9 TQ 3175

18/931 Nos 211 to 219 (odd) The Academy 16.1.74 (formerly listed as The London Astoria)

The grade shall be upgraded to Grade II* (star) and the description shall be amended to read:-

Cinema, now Concert Hall. 1929 by Edward Stone and T R Somerford. Steel frame clad in cream and green faience. Plan of double-height auditorium with balcony, reached by 2-storey hall from single-storey entrance foyer on corner site. Two-storey front, with moulded faience panels and parapet, is dominated by copper half-dome over entrance foyer with double doors. Interior: very fine entrance foyer with banded square columns and bold terrazzo flooring to ground floor, and fluted columns and pilasters to first floor surrounding octagonal well with Art Deco metal balustrade to balcony and double staircase; channelled rustication of ground floor walling contrasts with decorative plaster panels framed by fluted pilasters to first floor; fine original light fittings; coffered ceiling with decorative glazing to square and octagonal skylights. Auditorium designed as an 'atmospheric' based on an Italian Renaissance garden with monumental Renaissance-style architecture ground proscenium and along side walls; towers flank miniature loggia based on the Rialto bridge across the proscenium arch; towers are fronted by balconies set on Composite half-columns framing statues and central round-arched niche; series of domes, pilastered walls, balustrades, pediments and statues to rest of side walls, all surmounted by artificial trees; decorative plaster decoration to front of circle balcony. Noted as the best surviving example of an atmospheric in Britain, along with the Astoria Finsbury Park.

STOCKWELL ROAD SW9 1. (north-east side) 5023 Nos 211 to 219 (odd) (The Odeon Astoria TQ 3175 18/931 Cinema) 16.1.74 II GV 2. Originally called the Astoria Cinema. 1929 by Edward Stone. Half-domed entrance portico. The interior is designed in imitation of a mediterranean scene with loggia on each side of 4 pairs of Corinthian columns with balustrade above and, behind this, a street scene of archway, pavilion, statue and small house. Imitation corridor of round-headed arches over the proscenium arch.

Listing NGR: TQ3104175755