Grand Theatre

WOLVERHAMPTON

SO9198NE LICHFIELD STREET 895-1/12/261 (South side) 12/02/75 Grand Theatre

GV II*

Theatre. 1893-4. By C.J.Phipps. Brick with stone dressings and slate Mansard roof. Renaissance style. 3 storeys with attic; 9 bays, central 5 bays over ground floor recessed behind colonnade and flanked by Mansard-roofed end bays. Frieze and cornice to ground floor, 1st floor sill course, top entablature with brick frieze and stone-coped parapet with central balustrade; colonnade on antae with balustrade between. Piers to ground floor, with plate-glass windows replacing shop fronts to 2 bays at each end; windows to 1st and 2nd floors have architraves and casements, those to end bays have balustraded aprons and friezes and cornices to 1st floor, the cornices forming sills to 2nd floor windows with enriched iron grilles; centre has C20 glazed enclosure to 1st floor; a pedimented half-dormer to each end. 5 central entrances with C20 doors and glazed cast iron lean-to canopy. Some brick stacks. INTERIOR is original; of note is the auditorium with original plasterwork, curved balconies, 2 boxes with broken pediments and proscenium architrave with enriched panel over; coved ceiling, round centre panel covered with acoustic tiles. The original act drop with painted landscape is one of only 2 surviving examples. "This is among the most important of Phipps' remaining theatres and he regarded it as one of his most successful designs." (SAVE Committee: Curtains!, or A New Life for Old Theatres: London: 1982-: P.192-3).

Listing NGR: SO9168298750