The daughter of film director Alfred Hitchcock has joined celebrities and “philanthropic billionaires” in a last-ditch bid to save Kensington’s historic Odeon cinema from redevelopment.
The Friends of the Kensington Odeon are calling on Kensington and Chelsea council to designate the Art Deco building an asset of community value, which would protect it from development.
Sir Ian McKellen, Dame Kristin Scott-Thomas and David Suchet have backed plans to turn the 90-year-old cinema in Kensington High Street into an arts centre called The Hitchcock, in honour of the director who liked to watch his films there when he lived in Cromwell Road.
His daughter Patricia Hitchcock O’Connell, 88, said her family “wholeheartedly” supported the plan.
In a letter to the council, she said: “We endorse the proposal to create a mixed arts centre on the site and to name it in the memory and celebrate the legacy of my father, a regular at this cinema and a proud resident of Kensington.” A decision on granting it special status will be made this year.
The application is the latest step in a high-profile campaign to save the 1,300-seat cinema that has won backing from Benedict Cumberbatch, Richard Curtis and Sir John Hurt as well as 30,000 residents. The Design Museum is to move nearby in November and fundraising consultant Frances Prenn said the project was a “unique opportunity” to create a cultural hub.
Guy Oliver, of the Friends group, said: “Our scheme has the support of a number of philanthropically-minded billionaires.”
The cinema closed on August 31 last year after developers Minerva won planning permission to demolish most of the building and build 42 apartments and townhouses above a seven-screen cinema.
It is understood work has yet to begin but Minerva said it was committed to working with the council to develop a cinema “to the very highest standards” as soon as possible.
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