Lyceum Theatre

The Lyceum Theatre is a theatre of 1897, designed by WGR Sprague and substantially restored in 1988-90. It is built of brick with a stucco front and painted ashlar dressings, the roof being hidden. The exterior features a rusticated ground floor, quoins, intermediate and eaves cornices, and an open balustrade with dies and ball finials. It is three storeys plus attics, with six bays. A round corner entrance tower is topped with a dome and a figure on a ball finial, displaying intermediate cornices and three round-headed windows at its base, with three round windows above, divided by pilasters. The attic storey has six deeply recessed plain sashes. The ground floor has three flat-headed double doors, flanked by pilasters, with overlights and segmental pediments. The first floor is divided by fluted pilasters and features six cross casements with moulded panels topped by semicircular or triangular pediments. The second floor, divided by terms, contains six two-light casements with cornices. The attic storey displays six round-headed openings with keystones and elaborate scrollwork, each containing a two-light casement. The ground floor entrances are moulded round-arched, flanked by pilasters, with keystones and fanlights, and moulded round-headed niches between them. The rear elevation is plainer, three storeys high, with irregular fenestration and two round-arched doorways, one with curved steps. The auditorium boasts elaborate plasterwork decoration. It features a square-headed proscenium with a crest above, a coved panelled ceiling with a central boss, and three side bays divided by double columns on the first floor and panelled pilasters above and below. Adjoining the stage, panelled strips feature figures in niches on the first floor. Openings have shaped heads, those to the first floor with tympanums. The theatre includes ornamented boxes, with the first-floor box being bow fronted, and two curved galleries with elaborate ornament. The building is a notable example of a theatre from the period, retaining a largely unaltered interior.