Byfeld Hall

• Theatre ID
  790
• Built / Converted
  1906
• Dates of use
  • 1906 - 1953: (mostly as cinema)
• Current state
  Extant
• Current use
  converted to other use (recording studios)
• Address
  117 Church Road, Richmond, London, SW13 9HJ, England

Details

Built in 1906 as a public hall, the Byfeld was licensed for both stage plays and music and dancing ‘with a proper stage’ and a capacity of 500 (350 in the body of the hall and 150 in the gallery). The floor was suitable for dancing. The bioscope was an item in the opening programme. A permanent projection room was added in 1910 when the Byfeld obtained its first cinematograph licence. From this time on it operated mostly as a cinema under a variety of managements, but it became the Barnes Theatre in 1925 under Philip Ridgeway’s management. Ridgeway employed Komisarjevsky to direct and design five Russian plays and, although the operation was tightly constrained for cost, this short tenure was of significance in theatre-historic terms. After Ridgeway the theatre reverted to cinema use with several changes of name and management, until it became a film studio in 1960 and a sound studio in 1966. It is now known as the Olympic (Sound) Studios. The exterior is of red brick and stone in a mildly flamboyant Dutch baroque style, now lacking some ornamental features (eg the cupola on the south east corner tower). At ground floor the façe is divided into two main elements, the entrance and three separate shop fronts. The originally three-doored entrance to the hall is given rather grand treatment with heavy stone arches, above which is a stone panel with the date 1906. At first floor level is a bay (now blocked) which must have served a public room. On the side elevation, above an arched window, is the name Byfeld Hall. The hall was on the first floor. In its life as the Ranelagh Cinema (1932-41) it had what was described as a pretty auditorium with floral murals and ceiling decorated in an attractive trellis pattern. In 1989 the exterior was refurbished but the interior was virtually gutted to form the present studios. The shops have now been absorbed into studio use with opaque-glazed doorless fronts. The original entrance has been altered.

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• Other names
  Barnes Theatre, Vandyke Cinema Olympic Studio
• Events
  • 1906 - 1953 Use: (mostly as cinema)
  • 1906 Design/Construction:
    • probably J Harrison (also attrib. Arthur Osborne) - Architect
  • 1910 Alteration: projection room added
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1951 - 1952 Alteration: Array reinstated following small fire
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1966 Alteration: cupola on tower at SE corner removed
    • Unknown - Architect
  • 1989 Alteration: interior gutted and redesigned as suite of sound studios
    • Christopher Watts - Architect
  • 1906 Owner/Management: Frank William Dunkley
  • 1910 Owner/Management: George Harrison Longuehaye
  • 1910 Owner/Management: National Theatres De Luxe Ltd
  • 1913 Owner/Management: London & Suburban Cinematograph Theatres Ltd (Bendack)
  • 1915 Owner/Management: Camp Entertainment Co (Conrad Kingsley)
  • 1917 - 1918 Owner/Management: Licence lapsed
  • 1919 - 1924 Owner/Management: Various cine licensees (see file)
  • 1925 Owner/Management: Philip Ridgeway
  • 1927 - 1951 Owner/Management: Various cine licensees (see file)
  • 1952 Owner/Management: Vandyke International (R Denton)
  • 1960 Owner/Management: Guild TV
  • 1986 Owner/Management: Virgin Records
  • 1992 Owner/Management: EMI
• Capacities
  • Original: 500
  • Later: 1910: 500
• Listings
  • Grade Not listed
• Dimensions
  • Stage dimensions: Depth 1951: 14ft
  • Height to grid: No grid
• Unreliable anecdotes
  No evidence has been found of the reported Komisarjevsky decoration of c.1925-6. John Gielgud and Jean Forbes-Robertson did appear here, but not, as has been said, ‘regularly’ - probably twice. Charles Laughton appeared three times, Robert Newton once..