also known as Station Road Studios

Film Studios at Elstree
Elstree was a major centre for film production from the early days of cinema. There’s a great deal of confusion about which studios at Elstree were used for which movies / TV shows.
This section covers Gate Studios (also known as Station Road Studios)

Other Elstree Studios;

• BBC Elstree Centre (also known as Clarendon Road Studios, Neptune Studios, Rock Studios, National Studios, ATV Studios, Central TV Studios).
• Danziger Studios (also known as New Elstree Studios)
• Elstree Film Studios (also known as Shenley Road Studios, British International Pictures, Associated British Pictures, EMI Elstree Studios, Goldcrest Elstree Studios, Cannon Elstree Studios, Elstree Film & TV Studios)
• Millenium Studios
• MGM Borehamwood (also known as Elstree Way Studios)

About Gate Studios

Gate Studios was built in 1928, and consisted of a single aircraft hangar-like studio.
It was conveniently located next to Elstree railway station, which wasn’t so useful when sound films came in. According to the Elstree and Boreham Wood Museum website, a lookout had to be posted on the studio roof to signal when to stop cameras (and sound recorders) rolling when a train was about to pass.

The Gate Studios was the base of Whitehall Films.

History

• 1928 – Adelqui Millar built Whitehall Studio
• 1929 – Whitehall Studio closes
• 1934 – Consolidated Films lease the studio, and changes the name to Consolidated Studios.
• 1935 – Julius Hagen, the owner of Twickenham Studios buys the studio and renames it JH Studios.
• 1937 – The Studio closes, then reopens when J Banberger takes control, changing the name to MP Studios Ltd.
• 1939 – During the war the studio is requisitioned and used for war supplies and storage.
• 1950 – Arthur Rank buys the studio for overflow production and changes the name to Gate Studios, using it to make religious films.
• 1957 – Site purchased by Andrew Smith Harkness to become the home of Harkness Screens, the manufacturer of cinema screens, until 2004.
  Aerofilms, Britain’s leading supplier of aerial photography, also had an office there.
• 2001 – A campaign to have the building listed is rejected by English Heritage (Watford Observer)
• 2006 – Building demolished to make way for a housing project of 133 homes (named Gate Studios) by developers Taylor Woodrow.
  Some photos of the demolition can be found at the Elstree & Boreham Wood Museum website.

Source: Elstree Studios: The British Hollywood

East Anglia Film Archive – Film about studios in Hertfordshire

Productions shot at Gate Studios

Feature Film (9)
Title	Released	Director	IMDB
John Wesley	1954	Norman Walker
The last film to be produced at Gate Studios.
Decameron Nights	1953	Hugo Fregonese
Innocents in Paris	1953	Gordon Parry
Street Corner	1953	Muriel Box
The Promise	1952	Norman Walker
Women of Twilight	1952	Gordon Parry
Under the Frozen Falls	1951	Darrell Catling
Lilli Marlene	1950	Arthur Crabtree
Odette	1950	Herbert Wilcox
Short Film (1)
Title	Released	Director	IMDB
Ruth	1948	Donald Taylor