Theatre Royal (Halifax)

• Theatre ID
  2120
• Built / Converted
  1905
• Current state
  Extant
• Current use
  disused (theatre became cinema then bingo hall; closed as nightclub)
• Address
  1a Ward's End, Southgate, Halifax, West Yorkshire, HX1 1DD, England

Details

Built on site of an earlier theatre and an adjoining Shakespeare Tavern. Designed by Richard Horsfall & Son of Halifax and very similar externally to the Palace & Hippodrome in Burnley, also by Horsfall. Excellent Edwardian Baroque ashlar façe, unusually formal for an English theatre. Three main storeys with an attic. Flanking bays surmounted by open segmental pediments enclosing enriched circular windows. Three central bays above the arched entrances emphasized by giant Ionic pilasters, and a triangular pediment set against the attic storey. An additional bay to the right provides access via an archway with a large set of iron gates bearing the words 'Theatre Royal' to the stage door. The auditorium was gutted in the 1930s for cinema use and the proscenium wall demolished to allow the new auditorium to be extended into the stage house. However, the proscenium wall was retained at high level in order to support and retain the grid. Access can still be gained into the original stage tower, which has one timber fly floor on each side of the stage. All the grid and pulleys, etc are still intact. Proposals for redevelopment have envisaged keeping no more than the façe.

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• Events
  • 1790 Design/Construction: first theatre on site (architect unknown).
  • 1853 Alteration: upper galleries added (architect unknown).
  • 1873 Alteration: (architect unknown).
  • 1905 Design/Construction: completely rebuilt on enlarged site (incorporating adjoining Shakespeare Tavern).
    • Richard Horsfall & Son - Architect
  • 1927 Alteration: rebuilt after fire with improved stage (architect unknown).
  • 1930 - 1939 Alteration: converted to cinema (architect unknown).
• Capacities
  • Later: 1912: 1695
• Listings
  • Grade II
• Stage type
  • Proscenium, raked
• Dimensions
  • Stage dimensions: Depth: 34ft (44ft after 1927) Width: 75ft
  • Proscenium width: 30ft (34ft after 1927)
  • Height to grid: 50ft