Restoration and heritage

Restoring the Grade II* listed building has been one of the most exciting council-led projects in the borough for many years.

The focus was on restoring and preserving this unique 1930s building and its historical features, whilst allowing the spaces to be sensitively adapted for modern theatre use and making it accessible for all. The council was able to achieve this in several different ways, working with a range of skilled heritage specialists and craftspeople with advice and support from Historic England.

With some careful and creative design, the building has been successfully upgraded with much-needed modernisation measures for accessibility including:

• New lift from the foyer that allows public access to all parts of the building for the first time in its history
• New handrails have been carefully designed to replicate or complement existing historic handrails across the building
• Unnecessary stone steps have been removed with subsequent repairs to the terrazzo floor beneath

Some of the external restorations include:

• Reinstating the curved gable end that was damaged in the 1940s during World War II
• Reintroducing the red Spanish pantiles on the roof
• Retaining and restoring all the original windows to their original vivid green and improving thermal performance with new glazing
• Repairing and repainting the external render

During the planning phases, the council consulted extensively with local residents, businesses and community groups in developing the plans for the venue, which respect the heritage, architecture and design of the art deco building. The Council worked closely with specialists from Historic England to ensure that the former Granada Cinema, one of the best surviving examples of Spanish-Arabic architecture in the country, would be restored to its full glory, sensitively and respectfully. Historic England’s Repair Grants for Heritage at Risk scheme supported the restoration project with a grant.

Arrested decay

The theatre interior has been restored using the arrested decay approach, which is commonly used in the conservation of historic buildings, especially theatres. It makes a virtue of a building’s rich history by showing and celebrating different layers of its decoration. 

With arrested decay there’s no aim to replicate a pristine original and ignore everything that came after; it doesn’t try to reverse any superficial deterioration. Instead, it freezes it in time, so the building reveals its own rich history through the layers of different exposed paints and textures. 

This is the approach taken with the main auditorium of Soho Theatre Walthamstow. The former Granada Cinema is one of the best surviving examples of early cinema architecture in the country, influenced by Spanish Arabic architecture, hence ‘Granada’. 

The original decorative scheme used golds and greens with tinted glazes to give the impression of mosaic tiles. Then in the 1960s, earthy orange hues were overpainted to form the background to performances by the Beatles and Ronettes. Later in the 1990s, lush purples and mint greens were added. Rather than try and recreate just one of these versions of the building, with arrested decay we’re proudly celebrating its entire history, with all the stories of the past intact. 

Recreating the interior design

Local artist and specialist decorator Saskia Huning was one of the many people working on the interior restoration of the building. Saskia’s work focused on recreating a section of the 1930s painted dado design, a geometric stencilled tiled pattern that lines the walls of the auditorium. 

The building interior was designed by Theodore Komisarjevsky and was inspired by the Alhambra. To recreate the stencils, an area of the original painted dado was uncovered and traced off and colours were mixed to match this, considering the aged patinated appearance of the original. Stencils were then cut to allow the design to be recreated. 

You can watch a video below showing the detail and craftsmanship that went into this restoration.

Saskia Huning is a local artist and specialist decorator working on restoring and recreating historic decorative schemes and murals. Working in both traditional and modern materials a variety of gilding and painting techniques are used in projects in museums, churches and private houses around the country. Find out more about Saskia’s work on the Huning Decorations website.