Victoria Palace Theatre

This grand theatre was built in 1911 by variety magnate Alfred Butt to designs by the celebrated theatre architect Frank Matcham, with Henry Lovatt Ltd as builders. It was extended in 2000.

Plan and Layout

The building comprises a deep frontage block three bays wide and three bays deep, rising four storeys above a basement with a concealed attic level. The central bay was originally three storeys with a lantern and lightwell above, now floored over. The entrance lobby leads through to a central foyer and large auditorium to the north with dress circle and gallery. The outer bays contain separate stair compartments serving the dress circle to the right (west) and gallery to the left (east). A grand staircase in the rear bay of the foyer leads down to the stalls on the left and up to the dress circle on the right.

Above the foyer is a series of bars arranged on successive floors: at first floor the dress circle bar (originally the Ladies' Tea Room or Adams Room); at second the Tudor Bar (originally the 'Old English' Bar), accessed by an enclosed stair at the rear of the dress circle; and at third a bar only one bay deep serving the gallery, extended rearwards over the roof and lantern of the Tudor Bar in 2000. A former manager's flat at attic level, now offices, was also extended rearwards in 2000. A basement bar is now much altered. At ground floor, to the east of the main building in what was a pre-existing structure, is the former 'stalls saloon' bar. In front of this is a second foyer, installed in 2000 in the former gallery queuing yard, which is interlinked with the main foyer.

Materials

The façade is clad in 'Penteliko' and 'Keramo' white faience produced by Gibbs & Canning. The return (west) elevation is faced in red brick, faience and stone.

Exterior

The theatre is designed in a Baroque style. The symmetrical three-bay front has a broader central bay. The central entrance retains original polished hardwood glazed doors with curvilinear glazing bars and bevel-edged glass. A cantilevered entrance canopy with coloured glass front bearing the theatre name dates from 1927. Doors to the staircases lie to either side.

The central bay projects slightly and features a great niche rising through the first and second floors with a key bearing a female bust. Now obscured by advertising, the niche has a balcony with tripartite windows with French doors to the central bay and a decorative iron balustrade, above which is a decorative tympanum with an oval window. An open loggia with Ionic columns occupies the third floor; flanking pilasters have cartouches to their tops, and a pediment rises over. A plain frieze supports a parapet bearing the theatre name in red faience lettering.

Stair windows to either side of the niche on three levels comprise keyed oculi to the ground floor and paired square-headed windows to the mezzanine and first floor. Oval windows to the third floor have cherub-head keystones and swags, flanked by niched Ionic columns. A rich modillion cornice supports a parapet bearing two over-life-size female figures and urns to each corner. Crowning the composition is an octagonal Ionic cupola in the manner of Wren, bearing a gilded figure of Anna Pavlova (replicated from the original taken down in 1940 and lost).

To the right (east) is a single-storey triple-arched entrance with a balustraded parapet bearing the theatre name, formerly leading to a queuing yard for the gallery, now the entrance to the 2000 foyer extension.

The symmetrical side (west) elevation rises four storeys across nine bays arranged 1-2-3-2-1. The outer single bays are slightly recessed, and the inner ones are divided into three main bays (2-3-2) by rusticated pilasters. The channelled rusticated ground floor has a central entrance and vehicle entrances to the outer bays. Above, the central three bays are recessed and faced in stone with a giant order of coupled Ionic columns in antis. Paired casement windows are set within this arrangement, below a modillion cornice.

Interior

The entrance lobby has fine inlaid polished wood doors to either side, including a former one-person lift door to the left. The inner set of doors is identical to those of the main entrance. The lobby, foyer and staircase ceilings are decorated in the neo-classical manner with enriched beams and ceilings. Foyer walls are faced in grey marble with gold mosaic banding. Two pairs of coupled Doric columns clad in white Sicilian marble support the beams, with pilasters to the walls. A roundel in the central bay of the foyer ceiling was originally open to the dress circle bar above, with corresponding open roundels in the ceilings at the two levels above, lit by the roof lantern; these have been infilled.

The grey marble stair with green marble string has a massive openwork balustrade inset with decorative brasswork. Coupled Ionic columns stand at the dress circle half-landing and main landing, corresponding with the foyer columns below. The walls of the stair and dress circle landing have mirrored panels framed in enriched plasterwork. The main landing overlooking the stairwell has a curved balconet carried on a cul-de-lampe with brass balustrade.

The dress circle bar is decorated in Adamesque manner and has panelled walls with an arched recess to the west wall. The ceiling roundel (originally open) has fluted coving. The curved corridor at the rear of the dress circle (now the Long Bar) is panelled.

The auditorium is decorated in a rich Baroque manner, with cartouches, cherubs, swags and similar ornament to the gallery and box fronts, and fielded panelled walls. The square proscenium arch has a splayed panelled architrave decorated with egg-and-dart and reeded strips, and a segmental pediment with an ornamental panel in the tympanum forming a garlanded medallion with the monogram 'VP'. Two tiers of three boxes stand to either side. The upper boxes have pilastered round arches and bombé fronts. The lower boxes are stepped down towards the proscenium (a feature introduced by Matcham in his later theatres to improve sightlines), divided by columns and carried on elaborate consoles. A notable feature is the manner in which the gallery and upper boxes are linked: by a pendant bell-shaped element with a porthole for a followspot, framed in Ionic pilasters, with a balconet above. Walls rise to a modillion cornice. The deep coved ceiling has roundels and lunettes above the boxes and a large elaborate dome. To the rear of the dress circle is a set of alcove seats behind an arched timber screen and balustrade. The stage does not have machinery of particular note.

The staircase from the rear of the dress circle to the Tudor Bar has oak imitation timber framing and a beamed ceiling with plaster rinceaux cornices. The stair has splat balusters and square newels bearing bronze lamps. The Tudor Bar interior also has decorative timberwork with inset painted panels of knights and ladies. The beamed ceiling has strips of decorative plasterwork with rinceaux and rose bosses; there are similar plaster panels in the walls. The central beam and bar alcove have elaborate consoles with carved lions and masks.

The gallery bar has timber panelling, with the extension finished in similar manner. The former stalls saloon has a deep enriched cornice; the original polished hardwood bar has a mirrored bar back with decorative brackets, and a timber arch to the rear.

The interior throughout retains much original joinery and many decorative features, including mahogany doors, signage and brass wall ashtrays. The staircase to the east of the foyer is clad in turquoise and green tiles; that to the west in more utilitarian brown glazed brick. Stair windows have stained glass.

The former flat at top level contains offices. The interior of the foyer extension dates from 2000. These areas are not of special interest.

Historical Context

The period circa 1880 to 1914 saw a massive boom in theatre construction, particularly new 'variety theatres' for popular entertainment. These continued the music hall repertoire but were funded by entrepreneurs rather than licensed victuallers. The impetus came from tighter safety regulations coupled with a moral drive to separate popular entertainment from the consumption of alcohol, leading to the demolition of many older music halls built from the 1840s onwards, which were essentially drinking halls. The new music halls (the term endured well into the 20th century) were indistinguishable from drama theatres in their design, providing family entertainment in comfortable, fully-seated accommodation, opulently decorated, with no drinking in the auditorium. Construction declined in the 1920s in the face of competition from talking movies.

The Victoria Palace Theatre belongs to the very end of this boom period and was London's last great variety house. It occupied the site of a popular music hall, the Royal Standard, which had begun as the Royal Standard pub in the 1830s. A music hall called Moy's was added to it in the 1840s, renamed the Royal Standard Concert Rooms in 1854. This was refurbished by Alfred Brown in 1863 and renamed the Royal Standard Music Hall, then rebuilt on a larger scale by Richard Wake in 1886. Butt acquired the premises and adjacent houses in 1910, and the new theatre opened on 6 November 1911 with a variety bill. All the famous music-hall names of the period subsequently appeared there.

The deep frontage gave Matcham scope for larger foyer spaces than were usual, and the Victoria Palace resembles at least two other contemporary theatres—Matcham's London Palladium (1910) and Massey and Young's Wimbledon Theatre (1910)—in having a planned suite of public rooms rather than a single first-floor bar. The Victoria Palace was exceptionally well-served in this respect.

Sir Alfred Butt (1878-1962), one of the leading variety magnates of the early 20th century, forged his career at the Palace Theatre of Varieties, Cambridge Circus, under Charles Morton as company secretary in 1898 and manager on Morton's death in 1904. He made the Cambridge one of the most successful theatres of its time, introducing novel and lavish entertainments and foreign performers, including Anna Pavlova. In 1910 he assumed control of the deceased Thomas Barrasford's circuit of halls and created the Variety Theatres Controlling Co Ltd in partnership with Walter de Frece. He was also involved in the management of several West End theatres including the Globe and the Adelphi. He built two theatres: the Glasgow Alhambra (1907) and the Victoria Palace, London.

The boom produced a number of specialist theatre architects, of whom Frank Matcham (1854-1920) was the outstanding figure and the most prolific. He designed or remodelled at least 120 theatres in Britain and undertook alterations and improvements to many others. The Victoria Palace was his last major commission before retirement and one of his finest later works.

The theatre is of more than special interest as a fine and exceptionally well-preserved theatre designed by Frank Matcham, the master of late Victorian and Edwardian theatre design, for the renowned variety magnate Alfred Butt. It features a high-quality faience-clad exterior in the Edwardian Baroque manner surmounted by an imposing cupola and statuary. The lavish array of interiors includes the splendid foyer, grand stair and auditorium, and a series of public rooms. At no other theatre was there such an array of public spaces, each designed in a different style, here encompassing the Baroque, Adamesque neo-classicism and neo-Tudor, with touches of Art Nouveau. The Tudor Bar is a remarkable room, unique in a theatre now, if not then. The building retains a wealth of original joinery, fittings and decorative features. It is of historic interest as one of the capital's most renowned variety theatres, now a major musical venue, the successor to the Royal Standard, a well-known Victorian music hall. It continues the tradition of entertainment on this site since the 1830s, possibly the longest such in London.