Rio Cinema
RIO CINEMA, KINGSLAND HIGH STREET
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1244939
- Date first listed:
- 01-Feb-1999
- List Entry Name:
- Rio Cinema
- Statutory Address:
- RIO CINEMA, KINGSLAND HIGH STREET
Location
Location of this list entry and nearby places that are also listed. Use our map search to find more listed places.
Use of this mapping is subject to terms and conditions .
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale.
What is the National Heritage List for England?
The National Heritage List for England is a unique register of our country's most significant historic buildings and sites. The places on the list are protected by law and most are not open to the public.
The list includes:
 |
Buildings |
 |
Scheduled monuments |
 |
Parks and gardens |
 |
Battlefields |
 |
Shipwrecks |
Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2006-03-05
- Reference:
- IOE01/15125/02
- Rights:
- © Mr David Smith. Source: Historic England Archive
Local Heritage Hub
Unlock and explore hidden histories, aerial photography, and listed buildings and places for every county, district, city and major town across England.
Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1244939
- Date first listed:
- 01-Feb-1999
- List Entry Name:
- Rio Cinema
- Statutory Address 1:
- RIO CINEMA, KINGSLAND HIGH STREET
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- RIO CINEMA, KINGSLAND HIGH STREET
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Greater London Authority
- District:
- Hackney (London Borough)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 33519 85170
Details
TQ 3385
735/18/10079
KINGSLAND HIGH STREET (West side),
Rio Cinema
II
Alternatively known as: Kingsland Empire, KINGSLAND HIGH STREET, Hackney Cinema. 1937 by F E Bromige, within the shell of an earlier cinema of 1913-15 by George Coles of Adam and Coles. Rendered brick and concrete, nearly flat roof behind high parapets. Circular foyer on corner of site with manager's office over and cafe to side; behind these a single auditorium in Art Deco style with screen and single circle reached via stair to circle foyer. Above this, accessed from the roof, the ceiling and upper walls survive of Coles's earlier auditorium, in strikingly theatrical still Edwardian idiom. Plan rendered facade with ribbed moulding in concave front behind drum of foyer, arch on Kingsland Road front formerly held name CLASSIC' cinema. Parapet was reduced in 1944. The chief interest of this building lies in its complete auditorium of 1937 behind remodelled and extended foyer. Simple, curved mouldings to walls and ceiling, which sweeps down like a cash register to unmoulded proscenium opening. Vertical grilles over screen and at sides over emergency exits. Cut-back pyramidal moulding, originally perhaps a laylight, under circle. Some original light fillings survive at sides and in upper foyer. F E Bromige achieved a remarkable sense of rhythm and movement through simple means in his few cinemas, all in North London, and he has emerged as a specialist cinema architect of rare originality. But there is the added interest also of the remains of the earlier cinema above. In the void over the auditorium, the rafters of Coles's circular auditorium ceiling and moulded plaster decoration with panels, pilasters, swags and timber cornices. This is an exceptionally rare survival, suggesting that the original Kingsland Empire was more theatrical in planning and decoration than most cinemas of that date. Many cinemas were remodelled with the arrival of sound films in the 1930s; nowhere else are two very different auditoria found one within the other.
Sources
GLRO Modem Records File AP,/BP, 07/0187 and AP,/BP,/19/0187
Ideal Kinema 10 February 1938
Listing NGR: TQ3351985170
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 472823
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Ideal Kinema in 10 February, (1938)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 23-Jun-2026 at 08:07:33.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.