Banqueting House

A key building in the history of art and architecture in Britain and revered as one of our most precious monuments. Notwithstanding later additions and a total renewal of the façade stonework in 1830 (faithfully reproducing the original design), it can be seen as one of Inigo Jones’s few complete and perfect works. It is not, strictly, a theatre but it was purpose-designed for regular theatrical fit-ups and its importance in theatrical history makes it impossible to omit.

It was built to replace Smythson’s Banqueting House of 1609, which had been destroyed by fire in 1619. Jones had been designing prosceniums, stage machines, etc for court masques by Jonson and others since the early years of the seventeenth century and the new building continued to be used for this purpose until 1635 when the masques moved to a wood building nearby. Jones’s design for the Banqueting House provided for the requirements of such entertainments in, for example, its avoidance of internal columns. His most sophisticated machines and single-point perspectives were devised for this noble room. In 1649 the Banqueting House had a window temporarily removed so that it could serve as the ante-room to the execution scaffold of Charles I. The interior has been magnificently restored. The Banqueting House has been well documented and many published works deal with its architectural, historical and theatrical significance.