Velvet wonderlands

May 20, 2020 12:48 AM

Wandering around Britain, one might notice the grand theatres of the turn of the 19th/20th centuries and think they had a lot in common - a very particular, ornate style is immediately noticeable. This is because they were largely designed by the same hand: Frank Matcham, who died a hundred years ago last Sunday.

Matcham built or reconstructed perhaps 150 theatres, of which 26 have survived as such (at least until The Unpleasantness), including Coliseum, the Hippodrome, the Palladium, the Lyric, Hammersmith, the Hackney Empire, the Shepherd's Bush Empire and the Victoria Palace in London; the Grand Theatre, Blackpool; the King’s Theatre, Glasgow; and Grand Opera House, Belfast. Many are covered on arthurlloyd.co.uk (a website about music hall and theatre history), which also includes an interview with Frank Matcham from 1897.

At Wikipedia

In the Guardian:
Mr Theatre: the marvellous playhouses of Frank Matcham – in pictures
Michael Billington (who knows theatres) on Frank Matcham

posted by Grangousier (7 comments total)

As someone who lived near the Lyric for many years (and is still within cycling distance of it), this is fascinating! My kid has performed on both the Hackney Empire and Richmond Theatre stages, and we were always told that those two in particular were exact replicas (although the geometry of the Circle doesn't match up at all). I suspect the "these are all just Matcham theatres" makes a lot more sense, in the way that Carnegie libraries (of which there is one just around the corner from the Lyric Hammersmith!) all share a common appearance.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 2:54 AM on May 20, 2020

mods: something seems to have gone wrong with the "At Wikipedia" link? It doesn't seem to have the href.
posted by rum-soaked space hobo at 3:08 AM on May 20, 2020

I love a good Matcham house. The one I know best is, of course, the Coliseum, home of the perpetually-short-of-funds English National Opera.

The Guardian piece shows the Colly when it was all in blue, before its 2000-04 restoration; it's now restored to Matcham's original designs in handsome shades of imperial purple and gold. Photos here.
posted by Pallas Athena at 3:55 AM on May 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

mods: something seems to have gone wrong with the "At Wikipedia" link? It doesn't seem to have the href.

Apologies! I screwed that up - this is it.
posted by Grangousier at 4:54 AM on May 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

The one I'm closest to - physically and, in some ways, emotionally is the Coronet at the top of New Kent Road. I used to go there when it was a fleapit cinema; more recently it's been a venue (popular for megastar afterparties, apparently) and nightclub, with attendant unpleasantness. Alexander "Boris" Johnson is keen that it shouldn't be protected in any way because it might impede the destruction of the nearby shopping centre.

The original facade is still there behind the cladding (I thought it was like the Lyric, with the original auditorium inside a modern shell, but no!)
posted by Grangousier at 5:06 AM on May 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

Mod note: Fixed!
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 9:58 AM on May 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

Hmm, now I wonder if the great country house that appears in two of James's late novels is named after him.
posted by praemunire at 12:03 PM on May 20, 2020