Empress Theatre Of Varieties

• Theatre ID
  429
• Built / Converted
  1898
• Current state
  Demolished
• Current use
  demolished
• Address
  Brighton Terrace, Brixton, Lambeth, London, SW9, England

Details

Immediately before demolition the Empress was visibly a mixture of different periods. The carcase of the auditorium and the whole of the stage house were of 1898 by Wylson & Long. The rendered corner tower, in a hard Art Deco manner, belonged to the 1931 reconstruction. The auditorium and other areas were of 1931, slightly altered in the 1950s and later, but still quite presentable. The stage, although finally used only for bingo, was complete. Four storey frontage building (the front of house accommodation seems to have been generous) extended along Brighton Terrace. Not a great architectural loss (although the tower was of townscape value) but this was a theatre of some potential which could have been returned to operational use (with reduced capacity) at a lower cost than the building of a new theatre - which this area will undoubtedly need in time.

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• Other names
  Empress Music Hall, Granada Cinema, Granada Bingo & Social Club
• Events
  • 1898 Design/Construction:
    • Wylson & Long - Architect
  • 1931 - 0 Alteration: radical reconstruction (architect unknown).
  • 1958 - 0 Alteration: conversion to cinema (architect unknown).
  • Owner/Management: See Diana Howard op cit for list from 1898 to 1950
  • 1993 - 0 Demolition:
• Capacities
  • Original: 1260
  • Later: 1912: 1500 c.1946: 1950
• Listings
  • Grade Not listed - Might have had a chance of survival if it had been listed
• Stage type
  • Raked
• Dimensions
  • Stage dimensions: 1898 Depth: 40ft-30ft 1946: 28ft
  • Proscenium width: 1946: 40ft
  • Height to grid: 1946: 60ft
• Unreliable anecdotes
  Sometimes confused with Brixton Theatre q.v. (also demolished)