Opera Colonnade The Opera House With The Shops Below Numbers 84 To 96 And Numbers 38 To 50 Monson Road Including Numbers 38 To 50 Opera Colonnade

This theatre, built in 1902 to designs by John Briggs, incorporates shops on three sides and is located on Monson Road, specifically including numbers 38 to 50 and 84 to 96. It is a symmetrical building in a Neo-Georgian style with a prominent Baroque centrepiece. Constructed of red brick with ashlar dressings, it features a central copper dome with an oculus, accompanied by smaller domes at the ends of the wings. The principal elevation has three storeys and 23 windows. The central nine bays form the main feature, flanked by six-bay wings. The central dome is above a broken pediment supported on paired Ionic pilasters. A curved balcony with a round-headed arch and three round-headed openings with french windows is situated centrally. The three bays flanking the centre feature oculi with carved figures above the second floor, while the central section culminates in a pediment and double pilasters. Twelve-pane sashes are present on the second floor, and fifteen-pane sashes on the first floor. The outer ends of the wings are capped with domes. The outer bays have Baroque doorways, with banded rustication, on the ground floor, where shops are located.

The interior foyer features dado panelling, two fireplaces with pilasters, swags, and console brackets, and two arches supported by Ionic piers. The main staircase, likely altered after 1923, leads to a bar with a mahogany fitment, a round-headed arch featuring a carved shell motif, and a painting depicting 18th-century revellers, alongside a painted fireplace. The auditorium has two slightly curved balconies with six and eight rows of seating, alongside straight slips and ranges of superimposed boxes (four on each side). The upper boxes are adorned with gryphons atop each subdividing pilaster. The Dress Circle retains a glazed screen with lily decoration, and the seating likely dates from a 1923 cinema conversion. The Gallery retains original tip-up seating also featuring a lily motif. The rectangular proscenium is embellished with elaborately scrolled brackets in the corners and a curved pedimental tablet above the centre, flanked by reclining figures personifying Music and Drama. The main ceiling takes the form of a panelled saucer dome set within a richly moulded rectangular frame. The flytower retains a scenery winch and metal hooks.