George Coles (architect)

For other people named George Coles, seeGeorge Coles (disambiguation).

This building in Woolwich was one of Cole'sStreamline Modernedesigns forOdeon Cinemas.It was opened as a cinema in 1937 and is now a church.

George Coles(1884–1963) was an English architect, known mostly as a designer ofArt Decocinema theatres in the 1920s and 1930s.

Coles was brought up inLeyton,East London and trained at Leyton Technical Institute. From 1912 he was in partnership with Percy Adams. Cole's most notable works includeTroxyinStepney,theGaumont State CinemainKilburnand theOdeon, Muswell Hill,all of which areGrade II* listed buildings.

Cole designed several otherOdeon CinemasforOscar Deutsch,as well as the Carlton Cinema inIslington,and the Regal Cinema inKettering.He designed the Kingsland Empire in his birthplace, Dalston, of which the ceiling and upper walls survive hidden above theRio Cinema.Coles was also involved in the design of The People's Palace (1936) later subsumed intoQueen Mary College,University of London.He designed the British Home Stores (now Primark) in Rye Lane, Peckham.