Alexandra (Birmingham)

• Theatre ID
  461
• Built / Converted
  1901
• Dates of use
  • 1901: continuing
• Current state
  Extant
• Current use
  Theatre
• Address
  Station Street, Birmingham, West Midlands, B5 4DS, England

Details

Most of Owen & Ward’s Lyceum building was demolished and rebuilt in 1935, except for the plain brick dressing room wing flanking the auditorium and stage. The entrance is now in a separate (1960s) block, some distance from the original, quite decent, black and cream faience façe, which is now somewhat drastically interfered with by a link bridge penetrating it at first floor level. The auditorium, by contrast, has been stripped of later, dismal alterations and partly restored and partly sympathetically re-invented. It can now be seen as a handsome room of its period, with rippled plaster ornament over the ante-proscenium. Two balconies. Splendid, deep-coved, enriched proscenium arch in Art Deco style. The total effect is, in some ways, reminiscent of the much smaller London Whitehall. Metal clad fly tower.

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• Other names
  Lyceum
• Events
  • 1901 Use: continuing
  • 1901 Design/Construction:
    • Owen & Ward - Architect
  • 1935 Alteration: almost completely rebuilt
    • Roland Satchwell (Birmingham) and Ernest Shaufelberg - Architect
  • 1967 Alteration: exterior bridge & new foyer created
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1983 Alteration: renovated
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1988 Alteration: front of house renovated
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1990 Alteration: auditorium and backstage refurbished; white cladding boards removed to expose original proscenium arch
    • Seymour Harris Partnership - Architect
  • 1901 Owner/Management: William Coutts, owner & manager
  • 1902 Owner/Management: Carr & Carr, lessees?
  • 1902 - 1911 Owner/Management: Lester Collingwood, owner & manager
  • 1911 - 1937 Owner/Management: Leon Salberg, owner & manager
  • 1937 - 1968 Owner/Management: Derek Salberg
  • 1946 Owner/Management: T Alexandra Birmingham Ltd
  • 1968 Owner/Management: Birmingham Corporation
  • 1968 Owner/Management: Alexandra Theatre Co,lessees
  • 1992 Owner/Management: Apollo Leisure
  • Owner/Management: See file for additional list information on managements
• Capacities
  • Original: 2000
  • Later: 1935: 1530 1946: 1550 1991: 1367
  • Current: 1347
• Listings
  • Grade Not listed
• Stage type
  • Rake 1:3.4 Pros flat
• Dimensions
  • Stage dimensions: 1912 Depth: 35ft Width SL: 27ft SR: 27ft
  • Proscenium width: 1912: 28ft 6in 37ft 8in x 17ft
  • Height to grid: 53ft 4in
  • Inside proscenium: 28ft 6in
  • Orchestra pit: Enlarged, 32