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Architect Flanagan Lawrence has retained many original features in its design for the new Shepherds Bush Pavilion hotel, west London

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The golden age of the cinema - the 1930s - was also, coincidentally, a golden age in architecture, so it's not surprising that so many of our cinemas were built in the art deco style. Nowadays, the way we watch films has changed, and many of these palaces of Saturday night entertainment - huge, grand and luxurious as they were - have slid into sad dereliction, their charming original features long sold off (I have to admit here that my own living room door once swung open and shut for the clientele of the Odeon in London's Holloway Road).

Some of the more lucky ones have been given new lives, as apartment complexes offices or hotels, but it takes care and sensitivity to preserve the true charm of a deco cinema in a new incarnation.

Thankfully, that care and attention is not lacking in the painstaking transformation of the derelict Shepherds Bush Pavilion into a hotel of the same name for Dorsett / Kosmopolitan Hotels and designed by architect Flanagan Lawrence.

The building was originally designed by Frank Verity who produced some of the most ornate public buildings in London during the early 20th century.

Seating 2,800, it was the largest cinema in Britain in its day and won the RIBA Bronze medal in 1923.

The atrium and bar. Photo: Anthony Weller

From the architects:

Heavily damaged during World War II, the building was poorly repaired, subsequently converted to a Bingo Hall in 1983 and closed its doors for good in 2001, remaining disused for much of the next decade. In 2009 planning permission was granted for conversion into a four-star, 320-room hotel with conference facilities, café, restaurant, bar, retail spaces and a roof-top spa.

Dorsett Hotel lobby view. Photo: Nick Guttridge

Drawing on the influence of Art Deco cinema design, the foyer and atrium spaces employ simple curved surfaces in alternating bands of black and gold. The internally illuminated spandrel panels also minimise sound reverberation. At ground floor level, dark- stained, ribbed timber panelling and heavy curtains serve a similar purpose.

Photo: Nick Guttridge

The honey-coloured limestone floor is inlaid with brass, in two simple decorative elements. In the main reception, brass strips form a series of concentric circles at the centre of the space, which are reflected in a ceiling coffer above, while in the atrium, the bands define the circulation route from the reception through to the atrium bar. The primary façades have been retained with modifications to bring natural light into the rooms behind. The building features a new glazed roof which follows the curved profile of the original, bringing daylight into the upper floors of the building.

Photo: Nick Guttridge

Photo: Anthony Weller

Photo: Nick Guttridge