Former Victoria Theatre, Salford

Former Victoria Theatre, Salford

A former variety and touring production theatre built in 1899 by architect Bertie Crewe, with later alterations.

The building is constructed with a steel frame, red terracotta and red brick above a stuccoed ground floor, with Welsh slate roofs. The plan comprises a crush hall, auditorium and stage, each beneath its own roof, with a dressing-room tower positioned in the north-east corner, facing west onto Great Clowes Street.

The two-storey Baroque terracotta frontage presents five bays defined by pilasters that are plain at ground-floor level and Ionic above. A moulded string course, first-floor sill band and upper string course articulate the façade, with a plain brick parapet above. The first floor contains two windows to each of the outer four bays—all replacements but retaining original leaded upper lights and surmounted by small pediments. The centre bay features a wide window with leaded upper lights, an arched surround and a swan-neck pediment in the tympanum, above which the name VICTORIA THEATRE appears in relief. The ground floor has a basket-arched opening to each bay. The right-hand opening is blind except for two doorways. The central bay contains a recessed double doorway with part-glazed six-panel doors and multi-pane overlights; the other three bays have small-paned overlights in the arches. The feet of four cast-iron columns from the former entrance canopy remain in situ at the front and back of the pavement. The terracotta façade returns for one bay on each of the north and south walls.

To the south the building is largely obscured by an abutting structure and comprises mostly blind brick walling with parapets stepping down towards the rear. The north wall is more complex, with monopitched aisles flanking blind auditorium and stage walls above, their pitched and mansard roofs, and numerous two-over-two sash windows with segmental heads. Modern roller shutters cover three doorways towards the rear. At the left stands a four-storey tower with similar single-pane sashes (some blocked) arranged in two stacks with a central stack of smaller landing windows.

The dressing-room tower occupies the right-hand half of the east (rear) wall, with three stacks of four windows, all blocked at ground-floor level. Set back to the left is a two-storey flat-roofed extension against the rear wall of the stage-house, which is blind save for a doorway set high at the left-hand side.

The interior lobby retains steps and some cornicing but mostly modern finishes. The frame of the screen to the ambulatory survives with its side panels. The ambulatory curves around the rear of the auditorium and retains cornicing, embossed-wallpaper dado and decorative mirrors with swan-neck pediments. Similar fabric remains in the first-floor circulation areas and the great saloon.

The large proscenium arch features a decorative border and spandrels, flanked by two-tiered boxes with Corinthian columns below terms. The fronts match the curved first and second balcony fronts, displaying carved wood and elaborate gilded plasterwork with winged cherubs and festoons in panels. The raked first balcony is supported by two plain cast-iron columns and has an upper tier fronted by applied balustrading and a curved timber rear screen similar to those fronting the access galleries. The second balcony is also steeply raked and (as of 2023) closed off from the auditorium, but retains its rear screen with bench seating to its front.

The principal ceiling has one large and two smaller roses, and bordered panels where it rakes to the proscenium. The stalls and balconies retain some moulded plasterwork ceiling and wall decoration. A modern suspended ceiling has been inserted above the stage. Some private areas retain features including a timber dresser, lavatories and tiling. The dressing-room tower contains some modern services and finishes.

The raked stage (pitched at 1:24, or half an inch to the imperial foot) survives with two corner traps set downstage left and right, and a grave trap set centre-stage which retains its platform below the stage. Upstage of this lies a series of cuts with wooden substage machinery featuring paddle levers to lock and unlock the sliding cut sections.