The Point is a theatre and dance studio for contemporary performance and contemporary dance at

Eastleigh Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, operating under the auspices of

Eastleigh Borough Council Eastleigh is a town in Hampshire, England, between Southampton and Winchester. It is the largest town and the administrative seat of the Borough of Eastleigh, with a population of 24,011 at the 2011 census. The town lies on the River Itchen, o ...

. It was previously the local council offices and then the local town hall for Eastleigh before being converted into a theatre in 1997.

History

After significant industrial growth in the late 19th century, particularly after the railway carriage building facility,

Eastleigh Works Eastleigh Works is a locomotive, carriage and wagon building and repair facility in the town of Eastleigh, in the county of Hampshire in England. History LSWR The London and South Western Railway (LSWR) opened a carriage and wagon works at Eas ...

, was established in the town in 1891, the area became an

urban district Urban district may refer to: * District * Urban area * Quarter (urban subdivision) * Neighbourhood Specific subdivisions in some countries: * Urban districts of Denmark * Urban districts of Germany * Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland) (hist ...

in 1899. In anticipation of this civic leaders decided to procure civic offices: the site chosen was open land at the corner of Leigh Road and Romsey Road. Following a design competition with 36 entries, Mitchell, Son and Gutteridge of

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

was selected as the architect. The foundation stone for the new building was laid by the mayor, Councillor H. T. Willmer, in 1898. It was designed in the Victorian style, built in red brick with stone dressings by J. Treherne at a cost of £4,500 and completed in 1899. The design involved a symmetrical main frontage with seven bays facing onto Leigh Road with the end bays slightly projected forward as

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

s; the central section featured a doorway flanked by

Doric order The Doric order was one of the three orders of ancient Greek and later Roman architecture; the other two canonical orders were the Ionic and the Corinthian. The Doric is most easily recognized by the simple circular capitals at the top of col ...

columns supporting an

entablature An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...

with a segmental hood which projected forward and there was a clock

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * Mi ...

at roof level. The second phase of construction was a concert hall, which was erected to the east of the original building, in 1928. The building became the town hall for the new

municipal borough Municipal boroughs were a type of local government district which existed in England and Wales between 1835 and 1974, in Northern Ireland from 1840 to 1973 and in the Republic of Ireland from 1840 to 2002. Broadly similar structures existed in S ...

of Eastleigh in 1936 but ceased to be the local seat of government after new civic offices were completed further west along on Leigh Road in 1974. In 1935, a Carnegie library was opened immediately adjacent to the town hall. Built in red brick and in a complementary style, the architect was F. G. Lee. The library relocated to the Swan Centre in the early 1990s. Following a successful application for support from the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

, the buildings were converted into a theatre known as The Point in 1997. A new studio space and accommodation area, built at a cost of £2.5 million and known as the Creation Space, was inaugurated by the dancer, Akram Khan, in November 2009. The Point's sister venue, the Berry Theatre, was opened in

Hedge End Hedge End is a town and civil parish in Hampshire, England. Situated to the east of the City of Southampton, it adjoins the districts of West End and Botley. Hedge End lies within the Borough of Eastleigh and is part of the Southampton Urba ...

by the actor and director,

Samuel West Samuel Alexander Joseph West (born 19 June 1966) is an English actor, narrator and theatre director. He has directed on stage and radio, and worked as an actor across theatre, film, television and radio. He often appears as reciter with orche ...

, in April 2011. The Point hosted 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. ...

...

History

Activities

References

External links