Hippodrome (Huddersfield)

• Theatre ID
  2122
• Built / Converted
  1905
• Current state
  Substantial fragment
• Current use
  Licensed premises (Gutted, currently a bar; previously cinema)
• Address
  Queensgate, Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England

Details

The Hippodrome was the result of the conversion of an 1846 riding shed into a theatre in 1905. It was altered in 1909 and significantly enlarged, with a new stage house, in 1926. The auditorium was pleasing and intimate with a single near-semicircular balcony linked to boxes either side if the square proscenium. All this has gone following a fire in the late 1960s. The stage house originally had a scenic workshop at the rear, now a heap of rubble. The connecting door has been bricked up but is still visible. Fly tower is intact, one fly floor per side and grid still present. A small cinema has been inserted on the stage. The raked stage is still intact beneath a false floor. No evidence of any substage machinery ever having been installed. Dressing rooms originally under the stage are now derelict. The external walls of the auditorium (by this time a cinema) were lowered significantly after the fire. The original façe was a tall, stone, ‘industrial classical’ edifice. It was rebuilt in bland modern style with Westmorland slate cladding. Beyond this, however, the original millstone grit construction can be seen, the left hand flank having a blind arcaded treatment. The auditorium side of the fly tower clearly shows where the roof of the theatre abutted the stage house at a much higher level than today.

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• Other names
  Essoldo, by Tudor Cinema
• Events
  • 1905 Design/Construction: converted from older building
    • W Cooper - Architect
  • 1928 Alteration: auditorium enlarged and new stage built on added land
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1960 - 1969 Alteration: rebuilt as cinema after a fire
    • Unknown - Architect
• Capacities
  • Later: 1912: 2000
• Listings
  • Grade Not listed
• Stage type
  • Proscenium raked stage
• Dimensions
  • Stage dimensions: 1912 d: 26ft w: 56ft
  • Proscenium width: 1912 26ft