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Incredibly-detailed scale model of 1930s cinema

David Pescovitz at 7:06 am Tue, Jun 19, 2012

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 Upl Birmmail Jun2012 5 2 596X447 Image-5-For-Cyril-Barbier-S-New-Street-Odeon-Gallery-961169785

 Upl Birmmail Jun2012 9 5 596X447 Image-3-For-Cyril-Barbier-S-New-Street-Odeon-Gallery-4016378

Birmingham, England's Cyril Barbier, 82, built a scale model of the huge Odeon New Street 1930s movie theater, complete with 2,600 seats, an organ that raises and lowers, and a curtain surrounding a 15" LCD to play movies of the era. The project has taken him nearly 30 years and it's so big, it can't even fit out of his bedroom door. The Birminghan Mail has a lovely slideshow of the model and brief article about it. According to Metro, Barbier hopes to sell it. "‘I would hate for it to end up in a skip,’ he said. ‘Deep down, I built it to go into a museum.’

David Pescovitz is Boing Boing's co-editor/managing partner. He's also a research director at Institute for the Future. On Instagram, he's @pesco.

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  • http://www.lamidesign.com/plans lava

    skip = dumpster

    ur welcome

  • Jenz Seeger

    °o°

    Mindblowing! 

    I hope Mr. Barbier lives to see his 112th year and suggest he starts his scale model of  ”Le Grand Rex” (Paris, France) right away!

  • Just_Ok

    Are the floors sticky?

  • http://avarana.blogspot.com MarlboroTestMonkey7

    Looks lots like Teatro Balboa in Panama, built by the gringos back in the day.  Art Deco urinals FTW.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Cooper-DiBiase/100000445446098 Cooper DiBiase

    Looks VERY much like the theater out on the prarie in Morris, MN,  if somewhat more opulent.  Or very much like it did seven years ago, anyhow.

  • emo hex

    Does the lobby smell like popcorn?

  • jeligula

    Awesome.  The interior looks exactly like the art-deco Alger Theater in Lakeview, OR.

  • http://www.facebook.com/phil.wildcroft Phil Wildcroft

    Finger slip

  • http://www.facebook.com/phil.wildcroft Phil Wildcroft

    The Birmingham Odeon, where I saw many fantastic (and some not so fantastic) gigs during the 1980s when it was primarily a live venue, has unfortunately been split into a multiplex cinema now. The largest studio is essentially just the front stalls visible in the picture above, which came as something of a surprise when I saw Stardust there a few years ago.

  • Tim Drage

    Someone needs to buy it and shoot a stop motion film in there