Apollo Victoria Theatre (1929), Wilton Road, Westminster, London

The Apollo Theatre is one of the few old buildings remaining in the immediate vicinity of  the main entrance to Victoria train station in London, but also one of a number of superb surviving Art Deco architectural gems in the area. Built in 1929, it opened in 1930 as part of the Gaumont chain of cinemas.

From the Wikipedia page on this theatre: "The theatre was built with two identical façades on Wilton and Vauxhall Bridge Roads. Construction is principally of concrete, with strong horizontal banding along the exterior sides of the auditorium. By contrast the entrances feature a cantilevered canopy, and are framed by vertical channelling, with two black marble columns rising to the roof line. The entrance is simple, making use of chrome trimmings, this leads to a nautical themed interior in the original Art Deco style that makes extensive use of concealed lighting, decorated with scallop shells and columns that burst into sculptured fountains at the ceiling."

The Wikipedia page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apollo_Victoria_Theatre

During the few minutes available to me for taking photos, I looked for interesting features - there are many.

The front entrance has some of those wonderful metal handrails leading up the steps to the metal doors with their tastefully designed handles, all in the style you would expect from a top notch building of the period.

The canopy ceiling is painted with the same dark red color as the door frames, and features small but ornate lights within rectangular frames, which are joined with each other using bars of the same material as the frames.

The front edge of the canopy underside features longitudinal gold colored bars interspersed with silver bars at right angles to the gold.

The small windows above the entrance doorways continue this theme.

Either side of the two black marble columns that frame the entrance are to be found bass-relief metal sculptured panels, with a bank of metal-framed windows above them. The panels depict a stylized audience viewing a movie, some figures being clothed, others naked. The panel to the left of the entrance, above the exit, is in need of restoration.

Two concrete sculptures are found in the alcoves containing the metal sculptured panels. In the exit alcove, the word 'EXIT' is found, and next to the panel to the right of the main entrance is found a figure of a man.

The corner of the building to the left of the entrance soars skyward, with its left margin reprising the horizontal green lines that cover the extensive outer wall of the auditorium to the right of the main entrance.

Designs in concrete adorn the walls at ground level on Wilton Road, as well as the stage door at the farthest point to the right of the main entrance.

Next time I'll go inside!