Empire (Coventry)

• Theatre ID
  109
• Built / Converted
  1819
• Dates of use
  • 1819 - 1895
• Current state
  Demolished
• Current use
  demolished
• Address
  Smithford Street, Coventry, West Midlands, England

Details

Built in 1819 by Sir Skears Rew, owner of extensive surrounding land, it was a typical ‘pit, boxes and gallery’ circuit theatre with a manager’s house alongside. Substantial alterations were made in 1857 to give the tiers a U-shaped form. It was again altered in 1865, as a music hall, but later returned to drama. After a long series of varyingly successful and unsuccessful managements it became a permanent variety house (the Empire) in 1889. It finally closed in 1895. In 1898 a proposal to build a new Assembly Rooms on the site, to plans by Owen & Ward, failed to proceed. The theatre was later demolished.

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• Other names
  Theatre, Theatre Royal, Empire, Thomas’s Empire, Old Theatre Royal & Empire
• Events
  • 1819 - 1895 Use:
  • 1819 Owner/Management: Sir Skears Rew, owner; Samson Penley, lessee
  • 1819 Design/Construction:
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1821 Owner/Management: R W Elliston, lessee
  • 1829 Alteration: alterations to tiers
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1830 Owner/Management: Henry Bennett, lessee
  • 1851 Owner/Management: H Hall & T S Pitt, lessees
  • 1854 Owner/Management: J Harris, lessee
  • 1855 Owner/Management: John Coleman, lessee
  • 1857 Owner/Management: Henry Chart, lessee
  • 1857 Alteration: internal alterations and enlargement of stage house
    • Thomas Pratt - Architect
  • 1858 Owner/Management: Henry Powell, lessee
  • 1861 Owner/Management: John Mosley, lessee
  • 1862 Owner/Management: J H Doyle & F Mailland, lessees
  • 1862 Owner/Management: J C Chute, lessee
  • 1863 Owner/Management: Dolman, lessee
  • 1864 Owner/Management: R S Thorne, lessee
  • 1865 Owner/Management: John Dell, lessee
  • 1865 Alteration: altered (as music hall) and extra dressing rooms added
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1866 Owner/Management: Fred Allford, manager
  • 1868 Owner/Management: Alfred Walmisley, lessee
  • 1869 Owner/Management: G B Wright, lessee
  • 1870 Owner/Management: Frank G Venimore, lessee
  • 1872 Alteration: alterations to auditorium
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1872 Design/Construction:
    • Mander (Coventry) - Consultant: Decorations
  • 1873 Owner/Management: J G Taylor, lessee
  • 1874 Owner/Management: Fred Cooke, lessee
  • 1876 Owner/Management: Ed Bell, lessee
  • 1878 Owner/Management: James Walton, lessee
  • 1879 Owner/Management: J Eaves, lessee
  • 1880 Alteration: alterations
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1880 Owner/Management: W Bennett, lessee
  • 1886 Alteration: alterations to upper boxes, etc
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1889 Owner/Management: Gus Levaine, lessee
  • 1892 Owner/Management: Henry William Thomas, lessee
  • 1892 Design/Construction:
    • Jesse Lee - Consultant: Decorated Proscenium Arch
  • 1892 Alteration: stage relaid; new act drop and scenery
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1893 Alteration: benches replaced with redundant seating from Days Music Hall, Birmingham
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1895 Owner/Management: Albert Edmands, lessee
• Listings
  • Grade Not listed
• Dimensions
  • Building dimensions: 96ft x 34ft; frontage 23ft 6in