About

There are bold buildings and there are unforgettable ones. Gracepoint, the former Carlton Cinema on Essex Road, belongs firmly in the second category. Completed in 1930 by George Coles, one of the most celebrated cinema architects of the twentieth century, it announced itself to north London with an audacity that has never quite left it. The facade remains exactly what it was: a blaze of multicoloured Hathernware tiles, lotus flower pilasters, and chevron pyramids that owe more to the banks of the Nile than to the streets of Islington. The discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb in 1922 had sent a wave of Egyptomania through British architecture, and Coles rode it with singular conviction.

Inside, the register changes entirely. The foyer carries the Egyptian theme through in an Empire style, before giving way to a French Renaissance auditorium of genuine grandeur, a deliberate layering of influences that was characteristic of Coles at his most ambitious. When it opened, it was advertised as north London’s most palatial cine-variety theatre, with over 2,200 seats and an in-house orchestra. George Coles himself was in attendance on opening night. The same architect would go on to design the Troxy in Stepney, the Odeon Muswell Hill, and the Gaumont State Cinema in Kilburn, but the Carlton was among his earliest and most distinctive statements.

The building passed through the hands of ABC Cinemas from 1935, before making the transition so many great picture houses did in 1972, into a Mecca Bingo hall, which operated for almost 35 years. It was purchased in 2007 and reopened in 2015 as Gracepoint, a church and hireable venue. The bones of the original building remain in remarkable condition throughout, and much of the original interior is still visible.

The main auditorium retains its full stage, equipped with a 9 metre deep by 13 metre wide performance space, a state of the art Martin Audio sound system operated by an SD8 DiGiCo board, and standard stage lighting. Two front of house areas, two backstage offices, and a large reception area complete the production infrastructure. For shoots requiring a truly singular exterior, one that requires no dressing, no justification, and no explanation, few locations in London come close.