Find out about the "Palaces of Pleasure" in the borough

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The director of the Theatres Trust will be the speaker at the HF Historic Buildings Group annual meeting.

The Hammersmith and Fulham Historic Buildings Group is is holding its annual meeting next Thrusday. This year the theme of the meeting is ‘Palaces of Pleasure’: Entertainment in the Borough. Peter Longman, the Director of The Theatres Trust, will be the guest speakers, who will given an illustrated talk on our 'Theatres Lost, Rescued and Created'.

The Granville Theatre in Fulham Broadway built by Dan Leno, and the Grand near Putney Bridge have been demolished as well as the Kings Theatre in Hammersmith Road and the Palace of Varieties in King Street. Still entertaining us are the listed Shepherd’s Bush Empire and the rebuilt Lyric, Hammersmith as well as the listed Gaumont, Hammersmith now known as the Carling Apollo. New theatres include the pub theatres like the Bush Theatre, the theatre in the Polish Centre in King Street and the Celia Johnson Theatre at St Paul’s Girls’ School and the theatre at Latymer School in King Street.

Among the guests joining the discussion will be Michael Holden, founder Chairman of the Lyric Board, who re-introduced the Matcham plasterwork in the Lyric interior that we see today, Andrew Fullerton from the BBC who is involved with the new BBC Concert Hall , and Peter James who was Director of The Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith for many years.

Before the meeting at 7.15 there will be a guided tour of the buildings when we shall hear about the ballet stars who worked there including Margot Fonteyn and Rudolph Nureyev.

New members of the Group are always welcome to support our work of promoting, preserving, recording and enhancing all aspects of the historic environment in Hammersmith and Fulham.

The annual meeting will be held on Thursday 16th September at 8.0 pm at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, 153-5 Talgarth Rd, W14. The buildings that now house the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art, known as LAMDA, include the original teacher training college and kindegarten designed by John Salmon Quilter for the Froebal Educational Institute. Opened in 1894 they are on the Hammersmith and Fulham Local List of Historic Buildings (known as the Local Register of Buildings of Merit). The Froebel Institute remained here till its move to Roehampton in 1946 when the buildings were bought by the Art Council for the Sadlers Wells Ballet School, later the Royal Ballet School. Here, until recently, the Royal Ballet trained and rehearsed.

It seems very appropriate that when the Royal Ballet relocated to the refurbished Royal Opera House that another well known artistic organisation, LAMDA, should move in. The Group is grateful to the Principal, Peter James, for being its host this year.

 

September 11, 2004