Harrow’s Art Deco Masterpiece REVEALED!!

The view of the Dominion on April 27th 2021

You may have read my previous article about the Harrow Dominion cinema whose fine art deco frontage had been covered for sixty years behind metal cladding.

The Hidden Art Deco Masterpiece

A Peek at Harrow’s Hidden Art Deco Masterpiece.

After so long waiting, on April 26th 2021, I was alerted to news that the metal cladding that was erected to cover this fine example of F.E. Bromige’s work had all come off. It must have been an incredible task, because to keep the metal work up , loads of steel work had to be put into the building’s facade. I got up early the next day and went down to take photos. The results can be seen here.

The wonderful steel window frames and decoration, exposed to sunlight after sixty years.

A fragment of poster, but what film was it promoting??

The side view. All but the frontage will be kept in the redevelopment.

A chopped steel girder juts out from the facade. This would have been part of the large framework put up to keep the 1962 ‘modernisation’ in place.

It is all exciting stuff. But the hard work is just about to begin, because the building is to be redeveloped into residential space, and hopefully a new arthouse cinema. This exposure was a brief-lived affair, because within a week scaffolding went up to hold up sheeting whilst the refurbishment of the art deco frontage can take place. I spoke to one of the workers on the day I went there, and he told me that it will be a proper refurb. the metal window frames will be restored.

So, the best is yet to come. Yes, the original cinema auditorium will be lost, and that is very sad, but we will see something restored that hasn’t been in it’s full glory since the 1930s.

All colour images and text by Mark Amies, May 2021.