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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 ^[1] 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
• Crownleigh Court, Crownstone Road, Brixton, 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' ^[2] at Ideal Home Show the following year. ^[3] Morrell's glossy brochure ^[4] advertised that it could be built to order anywhere and three known examples exist:

• 77 Addington Road, West Wickham (much modified as a health centre, but nonetheless Grade II listed in 2021) ^{[a] [3]}
• 10 Dorchester Drive, Herne Hill, London ^{[b] [3]} It was granted grade II listed building protection in 2022. ^{[5] [6]}
• Stanstead, Mount Merrion, Dublin, Ireland (1936) ^{[c] [7]}

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
• 1936 Regent Cinema, Hatfield, Hertfordshire ^[8]
• Towers Cinema (Odeon from 1946), Hornchurch, Essex (demolished) ^[9]
• 1935 Savoy Cinema, Petersfield, Hants.
• 1936 Ritz Cinema, Belfast, Northern Ireland ^[10]
• 1940 Regal Cinema (ABC from 1961), Camberwell (closed 1973)
• Commodor Cinema, High Street, Orpington, Kent (demolished)
• Odeon Cinema, Greenwich, London (demolished)
• Odeon Cinema, Romford, Essex
• Odeon Cinema, St. Albans, Hertfordshire (re-opened as the Odyssey, 2015) ^[11]
• Odeon Cinema, Stepney, London
• Rex Cinema, Wood Green, London

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Notes

References