Venue Information- Victoria Palace Theatre

Victoria Palace Theatre, Victoria Street, London,SW1E 5EA

 

Underground- Victoria (District, Circle & Victoria Line)

 

National Rail-  Victoria Station

 

Bus-  8, 11, 211, 36, 24, 38, 73 and 511

 

There has been a theatre located on this site since 1832, and the Victoria Palace was originally known as Moy’s Music Hall. This was then renamed in 1863 and became The Royal Standard Music Hall. In 1886, after Victoria Street and Victoria Station were built, the theatre was demolished and the rebuilt Royal Standard Music Hall became  known as "the most comfortable Hall of entertainment in London... no expense has been spared."

 

With the arrival of electricity and other early 20th century theatrical technology drastic changes were needed. The oldest licensed music hall in London was once again demolished. Again in 1910, no expense was spared and Frank Matcham's brand new Victoria Palace Theatre cost the huge sum of £12,000 to build.

 

The theatre has retained much of its original character, even more so since the auditorium, front of house and dressing rooms have all been recently refurbished.

 

The grey marble foyer with its gold mosaic and white Sicilian marble pillars is very much as it was back in 1911. Outside, the facade, canopy and cupola have all recently been restored to reflect their former glory.

 

The auditorium now holds 1550 seats and is fully air-conditioned and features a magnificent sliding roof. Originally the Stalls, Dress Circle and Grand Circle each had their own entrance and their own box office selling pre-printed tickets from a paper plan.

 

From 1911, the year after its rebuilding to its present design by Frank Matcham, the Victoria Palace Theatre had a gilded statue of prima ballerina Anna Pavlova poised above it. This was owner Alfred Butt's homage to the dancer he had spectacularly introduced to the London stage. The original statue was taken down in 1939 for safety reasons  before the blitz and has now completely disappeared. It is not known whether it is in someone's garden or was turned to wartime military use for the war effort, such as bullets and ammunition.  In 2006, a replica of the original statue of Pavlova was reinstated to its original place above the cupola of the Victoria Palace and her gold-leafed figure once again gleams above us

 

The Victoria Palace Theatre moved into the new millennium with another adventurous building programme; enlarging the Foyer, WC facilities and increasing dressing room space, whilst maintaining all the feel and original character of the historic building.

 

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