Queen’s Theatre

• Theatre ID
  1780
• Built / Converted
  1775
• Dates of use
  • 1790 - 1869
• Current state
  Demolished
• Current use
  demolished
• Address
  Spring Gardens, Manchester, Greater Manchester, England

Details

Manchester’s first Theatre Royal was built by forty subscribers ‘as an antidote to prevailing religious excess’. A picture shows a typical ‘Theatric Tourist’ Georgian theatre. It burned to the ground in 1789 and was replaced with the insurance money. Known as the New Theatre Royal until 1807, it ceded its status to the Theatre Royal, Fountain Street, and was renamed ‘New Amphitheatre’ in 1809. It was a plain brick building 102ft long by 48ft wide: a small theatre with pit, gallery and boxes. The side boxes ran parallel to the exterior walls, with front boxes curving round in an ellipse. The proscenium consisted of ‘six Corinthian pillars’. Its turbulent history was due to the loss of Royal Patent and frequent changes of ownership. Enjoying a revival in 1844 when the Theatre Royal in Fountain Street burned down, a period of mounting competition ensued when the Theatre Royal in Peter Street opened. It closed in March 1869 and was demolished some months later when the spring (after which Spring Gardens was named) was found some 15ft below the stage.

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• Other names
  Theatre Royal, New Theatre Royal, New Amphitheatre (Bradbury’s), New Pavilion, Royal Minor Theatre
• Events
  • 1790 - 1869 Use:
  • 1775 Design/Construction:
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1790 Alteration: rebuilt after fire
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1801 Alteration: renovated
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1815 Alteration: unknown works
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1775 Owner/Management: George Mattocks & Joseph Younger, managers
  • 1781 Owner/Management: Messrs Austin & Whitlock
  • Owner/Management: Later: Miller
  • Owner/Management: Later: Mattocks & Young
  • 1784 Owner/Management: Messrs Connor & Sydney
  • 1790 Owner/Management: Sydney & John Banks
  • 1790 Owner/Management: Thomas Ward & John Banks
  • 1800 Owner/Management: Thomas Bellamy
  • Owner/Management: Later: Charles Mayne Young
  • 1809 Owner/Management: Robert Bradbury
  • 1815 Owner/Management: Mr Roe
  • 1827 Owner/Management: John Neville
  • 1831 Owner/Management: William Beverly
  • 1840 Owner/Management: John Sloane
• Listings
  • Grade Not listed
• Dimensions
  • Building dimensions: 102ft x 48ft