The Marble Arch Tower & Odeon Cinema, London

Architect	T. P. Bennett
Date Built	1962 - 1966
Location	The end of Edgware Road at Marble Arch
Description
This mixed-use development on the corner of Edgware Road and Bayswater Road across from the Marble Arch, involves an 82 metre tall office tower, a podium containing retail spaces and an Odeon cinema.  It was designed by T. P. Bennett and completed in the mid 60s then refurbished in 2000 by Treehorn and Norman.  The cinema had the distinction of being the largest built in Britain in the post-war period.  Its auditorium was designed to accommodate audiences of 1360 and the screen was able to show 70 mm films including "Lawrence of Arabia", "A Bridge Too Far" and "Gandhi".  In the 1990s the cinema was converted into a five screen multiplex. The whole site was sold in 2011 to the developer Almacantar who commissioned Rafael Viñoly to draw up a design for a new development on the site.  The plan is to replace the existing buildings with,  "...  a mix of high-quality residential, office and retail accommodation, new public realm and a new cinema."  The design calls for the construction of two blocks separated by a new public space.   One would be an office building, the other a residential tower containing 53 apartments arranged over 17 floors. The cinema will be placed below ground with an entrance on Edgware Road.  When completed the retail frontage will be 246 metres long, twice the length of the present building.  Work is expected to begin in the second quarter of 2015 and be completed in the third quarter of 2018.