Theatre Royal

This List entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 03/08/2018

SE 3220 NE 1/266

WESTGATE (north side) Nos. 92 to 100 (even) Theatre Royal

(Formerly listed as Lucky Seven Bingo Club)

II* Includes No. 2 Drury Lane.

The former Opera House, 1894 by Frank Matcham of London, Builders F.W. Denholm and Co. Altered, three storeys, gable end to road. Thinly rendered brick. Classical and Jacobean decorative motifs. Entablature rests on keystones of windows which must once have run through first and second floors, but are now blocked except for heads. Between them are busts of composers in scrolled roundels under serpentine open pediments. Lesenes run up through gable end to ball finials. Raised letters in large plaque: OPERA HOUSE. Modern entrance. Two-storey, domed red brick west part holds offices in front, dressing rooms and storage behind.

Inside auditorium has circle and gallery, the latter with original seating (although a later projection room occupies the centre). Bombe shaped balcony fronts have rich plasterwork and are of horseshoe shape. Scrolls of foliage, fruit and flowers on lower balcony, whose stage boxes have been altered to shell head niches. Marine motifs on upper gallery, paired dolphins in waves. Ceiling has eight oval medallions surrounding central rose. Proscenium arch intact, although two floors have been inserted in stage area behind. Fly platforms at both sides above stage, with ranges of cleats for manual haulage of cloths. At stage right a stage-manager's box, numbered cloth plan in blackboard paint and hinged cast iron bracket, perhaps for prompt copy. Spartan ancillary accommodation. Good Art Nouveau fireplace in first floor office.

Graded for the quality of decoration in the auditorium.

Listing NGR: SE3294420740