Theatre House

The Theatre House is a late 18th-century house, rebuilt on the site of an earlier structure and incorporating remnants of St Leonard's Hospital in its cellar. The origins of the building are further complicated by the presence of 13th-century masonry within the basement. The front is built of pink-grey brick in a Flemish bond, with red brick dressings. The right return is of coursed magnesian limestone on the ground and first floors, with the second floor constructed of varied brick in random and stretcher bonds. The left side is of orange-brown brick in a random bond. The roof is tiled, hipped, and features brick stacks; it has a timber cornice.

The front facade has three bays and is three stories high. The ground floor has been altered to provide a rear passage entrance, featuring a flat lintel supported by a cast-iron column. A 20th-century door is located within the passage, and a fixed 16-pane window sits to the right. The first and second floors are distinguished by 12-pane sash windows with stone sills, some painted and some renewed. These windows are set within brick quoined openings and have flat arches constructed of gauged brick. A moulded modillioned eaves cornice returns at each end.

The cellar at the rear contains remains of a barrel-vaulted bay with a chamfered round arch and vestiges of a capital. The vault is closed by a later wall containing a blocked window. A late 18th-century staircase with a close string, slender turned balusters, and a moulded ramped-up handrail serves the lower floors. An early 18th-century staircase with a close string, bulbous balusters, square newels with attached half balusters, and a moulded flat handrail leads to the second floor. A front room retains a pair of early 18th-century cupboard doors featuring raised and fielded panelling within a keyed round-arched architrave. A simple fireplace with a hob-grate is found in a back room. Panelled doors and fragments of panelling are also present on the first floor.

The house was originally built to provide accommodation for the Manager and Lessee of The Theatre Royal, and may have been occupied by Tate Wilkinson before 1803.