Lantern Theatre

The Lantern Theatre is a private theatre located in Sheffield, built around 1893, with additions and alterations made around 1956 and 1989. It was designed for William Webster and features rock-faced stone, some patterned tile hanging, ashlar dressings, and roofs that are gabled and pyramidal with plain tiles. The building has a coped brick side wall stack.

The theatre is a single-storey structure. The square stage enclosure has a lean-to projection on the left that forms the stage wing, along with a 20th-century lean-to addition behind it, both featuring 20th-century doors. The right side has a 20th-century addition covering the stage door. The roof is truncated pyramidal with a large square wooden ventilator topped with a hipped lead roof and pediments on each side. An octagonal wooden lantern with an ogee lead dome and finial sits atop the building.

The rectangular auditorium has a gable adorned with bargeboards on brackets and sham timber-framing, featuring a canted wooden oriel window that is now boarded. Below the oriel window is a Renaissance Revival ashlar doorcase with splayed sides, leading to a round-cornered doorway with a large keystone bracket flanked by strapwork terms. Additional curved brackets support the oriel window. This entrance is sheltered by a flat-roofed mid-20th-century addition. The returns of the building have a three-light stone mullioned window above which is a small two-light opening, and towards the rear, there is a blocked single light window. The left return includes a lean-to projection that houses a fireplace.

Inside, the theatre retains much of its original auditorium, featuring a coved ceiling and a moulded round-cornered proscenium arch with a foliage band and crest. Round-arched doors are located on either side towards the front, while the rear has three-light cross mullioned windows. At the back, there is a gallery with a renewed panelled front and a wooden winder stair, along with renewed central double doors. The stage area has a hipped roof structure with cross beams supporting the lantern. The theatre remained privately owned until around 1956 and continues to be used by amateur theatre companies.