The Music Hall and Theatre History Website

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The Gaumont Palace, Wood Green was designed by the architects William Edward Trent and Ernest F. Tulley and opened on the 26th of March 1934 with the films 'The Constant Nymph' and 'Love, Honor and Oh Baby', and a variety show on the Cinema's fully equipped stage. The Cinema was also equipped with its own Compton 3 Manual / 12 Rank organ and its Art Deco auditorium, built on two levels, stalls and one circle, was capable of seating 2,256 people.

The entrance to the Gaumont was situated in the middle of a row of shops and on entering the building patrons were greeted by a large foyer which gave access to a restaurant and cafe above, and the auditorium which was parallel with the row of shops beside the building's frontage.

Above - The Stage and Proscenium Arch of the former Gaumont Palace, Wood Green, during renovation work in 2009 - Courtesy Christian Drewett

The stage, which was flanked by a large semi circular proscenium arch, had a width of 80 foot and a depth of 30 foot, with a fully equipped fly tower and grid above with Frank Birkit counterweighting, Rae stage curtain controllers and a safety curtain (Shown Right) which still exists but is now locked into position. The Theatre also had eight dressing rooms for when it was used for live performances.

Right - The Safety Curtain, now locked into place above the Proscenium of the former Gaumont Palace, Wood Green, during renovation work in 2009 - Courtesy Christian Drewett.

In 1954 the name was changed to the simpler Gaumont Theatre and in 1962 it was renamed Odeon. The original restaurant above the foyer was converted into a dance studio between the name changes and in 1966 the Theatre's organ was removed and rehoused in the Twickenham College of Technology. The organ would later find another new home in Thorngate Hall in Gosport, Cheshire.

In 1973 the Cinema, still under the Odeon name, was tripled by building a wall beneath the front of the circle so that the main cinema now occupied the circle and the former front stalls with a capacity of 814. Two smaller screens were fitted in the former rear stalls with a capacity of 149 and 150.

Left - The Grid of the former Gaumont Palace, Wood Green, during renovation work in 2009 - Courtesy Christian Drewett.

On the 7th of January 1984 the Cinemas all closed and the building was then converted back into a single auditorium for Bingo use.

Mecca Bingo closed its operations in the building in the summer of 1996 and the building then lay empty for three years until it was converted for church use, with the foyer and former restaurant being used as a nightclub.

The Dominion centre, as the building is now known, has recently gone through some extensive refurbishment, and is Grade II* Listed.

You may like to visit the Website of the Dominion Centre here.

Some of the information on this page was gleaned from the excellent Cinema Treasures Website. Internal photographs were very kindly sent in by Christian Drewett.

If you have any more information or images for this Theatre that you are willing to share please Contact me.