Kemp and Tasker

Updated on Dec 10, 2023

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Leslie H. Kemp and Frederick E. Tasker were English architects who practiced in the 1930s as Kemp & Tasker.

They are best known for their cinemas, although they are responsible for a number of notable buildings in South London and Kent for a Messrs Morrell Bros. Builders of 60 High Street, Bromley, Kent. These include:

Motor Showrooms, Garage and Restaurant, 38 - 40 Croydon Road, Coney Hall, Hayes, Kent

Dorchester Court flats, Herne Hill, London

5 Dorchester Drive, Herne Hill, London

Tudor Stacks, Dorchester Drive, Herne Hill, London (demolished)

In 1934 a Kemp and Tasker house design won the Daily Mail's Ideal House Competition and was erected temporarily at Olympia in the 'Village of Tomorrow' at Ideal Home Show the following year. Morrell's glossy brochure advertised that it could be built to order anywhere and three known examples exist:

77 Addington Road, Hayes, Kent

10 Dorchester Drive, Herne Hill, London

Stanstead, Mount Merrion, Dublin, Ireland (1936)

Cinemas

1932 Regent Cinema, Station Square, Paignton, Devon (demolished)

1933 Odeon Cinema, Whalebone Lane, Chadwell Heath, Essex(demolished)

1934 Ritz Cinema, Gordon Street, Luton

1935 Embassy Cinema, Braintree, Essex

Towers Cinema, Hornchurch, Essex

1935 Savoy Cinema, Petersfield, Hants.

1936 Ritz Cinema, Belfast, Northern Ireland

1940 Regal Cinema (ABC from 1961), Camberwell (closed 1973)

Commodor Cinema, High Street, Orpington, Kent (demolished)

Odeon Cinema, Greenwich, London (demolished)

Odeon Cinema, Hornchurch, Essex

Odeon Cinema, Romford, Essex

Odeon Cinema, St. Albans, Hertfordshire

Odeon Cinema, Stepney, London

Rex Cinema, Wood Green, London

References

Kemp & Tasker Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA