George Coles

Who was George Coles?

George Coles was an English architect, known mostly as a designer of Art Deco cinema theatres in the 1920s and 1930s.

Coles was brought up in Leyton, East London and trained at Leyton Technical Institute. From 1912 he was in partnership with Percy Adams. Cole's most notable works include the Gaumont State Cinema in Kilburn and the Odeon, Muswell Hill, both of which are Grade II* listed buildings.

Cole designed several other Odeon Cinemas for Oscar Deutsch, as well as the Carlton Cinema in Islington, the Troxy in Stepney and the Regal Cinema in Kettering. He designed the Kingsland Empire in his birthplace, Dalston, of which the ceiling and upper walls survive hidden above the Rio Cinema. Coles was also involved in the design of The People's Palace later subsumed into Queen Mary College, University of London. He designed the British Home Stores in Rye Lane, Peckham.