HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Philharmonic Hall, London
OR:
Philharmonic Hall, London on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

The Philharmonic Hall, 97
Great Portland Street Great Portland Street in the West End of London links Oxford Street with Albany Street and the A501 Marylebone Road and Euston Road. A commercial street including some embassies, it divides Fitzrovia, to the east, from Marylebone to the west. ...
, London, originally the St James's Hall, was built in 1907–08 to replace the
St James's Hall St. James's Hall was a concert hall in London that opened on 25 March 1858, designed by architect and artist Owen Jones, who had decorated the interior of the Crystal Palace. It was situated between the Quadrant in Regent Street and Piccadilly, ...
that once stood in
Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Place ...
. The building was then used by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
and known as Brock House. It is now leased to The Office Group.


Location

The Hall occupies the whole of the area bounded by Langham Street,
Hallam Street Hallam Street is a road situated in the Parish of St Marylebone and London's West End. In administrative terms it lies within the City of Westminster's Marylebone High Street Ward as well as the Harley Street Conservation Area. Formerly nam ...
, Gildea Street and Great Portland Street. The building today has a street address of 19 Langham Street and the main entrance is now on the west side of the building in that street.


History

The Philharmonic Hall was built on the site of the former St Paul's Church (once known as the Portland Chapel) to replace the
St James's Hall St. James's Hall was a concert hall in London that opened on 25 March 1858, designed by architect and artist Owen Jones, who had decorated the interior of the Crystal Palace. It was situated between the Quadrant in Regent Street and Piccadilly, ...
in
Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash and James Burton. It runs from Waterloo Place ...
which had been demolished in 1905. The foundation stone was laid by the
Lord Mayor of London The Lord Mayor of London is the mayor of the City of London and the leader of the City of London Corporation. Within the City, the Lord Mayor is accorded precedence over all individuals except the sovereign and retains various traditional powe ...
on 20 April 1907 and the building opened on 25 April 1908 with a series of promenade concerts performed by the newly formed St. James's Hall Orchestra. By 1914, the hall had changed name to the Philharmonic and a
Ward Lock Ward, Lock & Co. was a publishing house in the United Kingdom that started as a partnership and developed until it was eventually absorbed into the publishing combine of Orion Publishing Group. History Ebenezer Ward and George Lock started a pu ...
guide to London produced soon after the end of the First World War (1918) reported that the hall was "mainly used for
cinematograph Cinematograph or kinematograph is an early term for several types of motion picture film mechanisms. The name was used for movie cameras as well as film projectors, or for complete systems that also provided means to print films (such as the Cin ...
displays". In 1917, the hall was photographed for the Howard de Walden Estate of which it was then, and may still be, a part. The photograph shows that ''
Intolerance Intolerance may refer to: * Hypersensitivity Hypersensitivity (also called hypersensitivity reaction or intolerance) refers to undesirable reactions produced by the normal immune system, including allergies and autoimmunity. They are usual ...
'' was playing and that on the ground floor at number 95A was a car dealership by the name of Watkins and Doncaster Limited.Reference No. BL23834.
English Heritage Archives. Retrieved 14 October 2014. Great Portland Street up to the Second World War was known as one of London's "Motor Row"s due to the over 30 car showrooms in the street.


Events

The Hall presented a variety of material, including concerts and film, but developed a specialism in travel films from remote regions. Often, these were accompanied by a commentary or lecture from someone connected with the film. *In 1919, the
Southern Syncopated Orchestra Southern Syncopated Orchestra (SSO), established first in the U.S. as the New York Syncopated Orchestra, was an early jazz group known for bringing Black musicians to the UK. The group was founded by Will Marion Cook. Members of the group include ...
, who are sometimes credited with introducing Jazz to Britain, performed at the hall. The orchestra had arrived in Britain earlier that year for a European tour and was a notable success at the Philharmonic Hall and elsewhere. They were complimented for their varied repertoire and performed for the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) at Buckingham Palace.London's jazz legends.
BBC, 15 May 2008. Retrieved 11 October 2014. *In March 1919,
Herbert Ponting Herbert George Ponting, FRGS (21 March 1870 – 7 February 1935) was a professional photographer. He is best known as the expedition photographer and cinematographer for Robert Falcon Scott's Terra Nova Expedition to the Ross Sea and South Pol ...
was "telling the story of" the film ''With Captain Scott in the Antarctic''. *Later in 1919, Lowell Thomas's film ''With Allenby in Palestine'', was showing until the end of the year. *The explorer,
Ernest Shackleton Sir Ernest Henry Shackleton (15 February 1874 – 5 January 1922) was an Anglo-Irish Antarctic explorer who led three British expeditions to the Antarctic. He was one of the principal figures of the period known as the Heroic Age of ...
, appeared there from December 1919 to May 1920 providing a commentary or lecture to accompany the
silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
and slides of his expedition to Antarctica which had previously been shown at the
Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London. One of the UK's most treasured and distinctive buildings, it is held in trust for the nation and managed by a registered charity which receives no govern ...
. The appearances were necessary to raise funds to pay for former and future expeditions. The event was advertised as much as a celebrity appearance as the showing of a named work as the slides and pieces of film exhibited had not yet received a name or an identity separate from Shackleton's words. The rent of the hall cost £200 per week and Shackleton employed two operators, one for slides and one for film, at £10 each per week. *In 1922, documentary films titled ''Wildest Africa'' and ''Through Romantic India'' were shown. *In 1923, George Lattimore was promoting with
Pathé Pathé or Pathé Frères (, styled as PATHÉ!) is the name of various French people, French businesses that were founded and originally run by the Pathé Brothers of France starting in 1896. In the early 1900s, Pathé became the world's largest ...
, ''Cradle of the World'', the "most marvellous and thrilling travel film ever screened". In a letter to the pan-Africanist W.E. Du Bois, Lattimore reported that he was having a "successful run" at the Philharmonic Hall. In fact, the show received indifferent reviews and lasted only one month. The show, which seems to have been based at least partly on ''Wildest Africa'', included a musical interlude to enliven the proceedings and to cover up the changing of the film reels.
Sol Plaatje Solomon Tshekisho Plaatje (9 October 1876 – 19 June 1932) was a South African intellectual, journalist, linguist, politician, translator and writer. Plaatje was a founding member and first General Secretary of the South African Native Nation ...
, the first General Secretary of the
South African Native National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a social-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...
(later the African National Congress), who was desperately in need of money, was recruited by Lattimore to take the role of an African tribesman.


BBC use

The Philharmonic Hall was one of more than twenty locations considered for the new headquarters of the British Broadcasting Corporation in 1927.Broadcasting House: The BBC is Born.
''Broadcasting House a Potted History'', 27 May 2002. Retrieved 23 November 2014. The site was discounted as a headquarters and in 1932 the BBC's
Broadcasting House Broadcasting House is the headquarters of the BBC, in Portland Place and Langham Place, London. The first radio broadcast from the building was made on 15 March 1932, and the building was officially opened two months later, on 15 May. The main ...
was opened on the other side of Hallam Street. The Philharmonic Hall became a BBC building known as Brock House. The exterior is now much changed with a different facade and windows and additional space added on the roof.Great Portland Street.
Google Street View, July 2014. Retrieved 23 November 2014. During the Second World War, the building was the home of the
BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...
drama department. In later years, the building was used mainly for administration and the BBC Mechanical Workshop. By 2018 the BBC vacated the building, with the original plan for it to be redeveloped as a boutique hotel.BBC Television Centre to be redeveloped as a 'digital experience'.
Tara Conlan & John Plunkett, ''theguardian'', 31 March 2013. Retrieved 23 November 2014. However, as of 2018, it is being developed into office space for The Office Group.


See also

*
Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. From 1895 until 1941, it ...


References


External links

{{coord, 51.5189, -0.1426, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Concert halls in London Music venues in London BBC offices, studios and buildings Great Portland Street Music venues completed in 1908 1908 establishments in England Neoclassical architecture in London