Golders Green Hippodrome

• Theatre ID
  2485
• Built / Converted
  1913
• Dates of use
  • 1913 - 1968
• Current state
  Extant
• Current use
  Religious centre (church services and some live use) <br> (previous use as BBC Concert Hall)
• Address
  North End Road, Barnet, London, NW1 7RP, England

Details

The theatre stands on a prominent site alongside Golders Green Underground station and viewable across a large open forecourt. The principal façe is symmetrical, in stucco or reconstructed stone, with a three storey centre in seven bays divided by piers with Ionic capitals, carrying a full entablature with urns above the cornice. On either side, channelled and quoined pavilions rise as short pedimented towers, between which the back wall of the house is set back as a plain attic with a prominent pitched roof and central cupola. Return elevation is plainer. The main entrance is in a curved corner bay. Even allowing for the fact that this entrance served only the best seats, front of house accommodation was clearly always cramped and there is little scope for gaining space. No bars were shown in the first design and those eventually provided were barely adequate for such a large house. Alterations made for the BBC Concert Orchestra have partly obscured, but not irreparably damaged, Crewe’s interior. Those parts of the original architectural treatment which are visible are well maintained. The auditorium design aimed at decadent Roman splendour but, as with some other theatres of the immediate pre-Great War period, it missed the mark. This is, nevertheless, a notable interior. It has a square proscenium opening, with its lintel supported on console brackets. Above this, a huge and bare sounding board (which an old-fashioned allegorical painting would have relieved) shelters flanking pavilions which contain two levels of boxes with an extra, impractical box facing directly toward the audience at the upper level. The boxes are framed by ‘correct’ Roman Doric columns which, on one side rise from uncomfortable pendant corners. They support a full entablature, which continues over the proscenium. Over the boxes are lion-drawn chariots, reminiscent of Matcham’s London Coliseum, but somewhat too small to astonish. The Doric theme is continued in a triglyph frieze on the upper of two balcony fronts. The upper part of the fly tower and the stage wings have been colonised since 1970 by a big rehearsal room, offices, band room, plant etc. The greater part of the auditorium floor has been levelled as an orchestra stage (the raked floor survives beneath) and a big sound control room and storage space have been inserted at the rear. A suspended structure obstructs the view of the ceiling centre. Audiences for broadcasts and recordings now occupy part of the orchestra floor and the first balcony. The second has been blocked off but still has its original thinly upholstered and backed bench seats. Reconversion to live theatre would not be impossible, but it is difficult to imagine a better use for such a building in such a location than the one it now fulfils. At the time of writing (2003), BBC concert use had changed and the future of the building seemed uncertain.

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• Events
  • 1913 - 1968 Use:
  • 1913 Design/Construction:
    • Bertie Crewe - Architect
  • 1969 - 0 Alteration: converted to TV studio (architect unknown).
  • 1972 - 0 Alteration: converted to radio concert hall (architect unknown).
  • 1913 Owner/Management: Golders Green Amusement and Development Co (Walter Gibbons)
  • 1922 Owner/Management: Hippodrome (Golders Green) Ltd
  • 1962 Owner/Management: Marfield Theatre Enterprises Ltd
  • 1970 Owner/Management: British Broadcasting Corporation, c.99 yr lease (freehold, London Borough of Barnet)
• Capacities
  • Original: 2340
  • Later: 1914: 2290 1946: 2245 1969: 2261
  • Current: 700
• Listings
  • Grade II
• Stage type
  • was proscenium, raked
• Dimensions
  • Stage dimensions: Depth: was 30ft
  • Proscenium width: 37ft 6in