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The Grand Opera House is a
The front part of the current structure was commissioned as a corn exchange in the mid-1860s. It was designed by George Alfred Dean in the Italianate style, built in red brick and was officially opened on 28 October 1868. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing onto Clifford Street and featured a series of linked round headed windows on the first floor. Internally, the principal room was the main hall which was long and wide. However, the use of the building as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture in the late 19th century.
In the early 20th century, William Peacock acquired the corn exchange and a warehouse located just behind it. The two buildings were brought together at a cost of £24,000, to a design by John Priestley Briggs, to create a music hall. Internally, the principal room was the main auditorium which featured raked seating, a proscenium arch and a stage. It was officially opened with a performance of a pantomime, ''
theatre
Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a Stage (theatre), stage. The performe ...
on the corner of Clifford Street
Clifford Street is a street in central London, built in the early 18th century, on land that once formed part of the Burlington Estate. It is named after the Clifford family, Earl of Cumberland, Earls of Cumberland. The daughter and heiress of ...
and Cumberland Street in York
York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...
, North Yorkshire
North Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in Northern England.The Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority areas of City of York, York and North Yorkshire (district), North Yorkshire are in Yorkshire and t ...
, England. The structure, which hosts touring productions of plays, musicals
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, movement ...
, opera
Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
and ballet
Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
, as well as one-off performances by comedian
A comedian (feminine comedienne) or comic is a person who seeks to entertainment, entertain an audience by making them laughter, laugh. This might be through jokes or amusing situations, or acting foolishly (as in slapstick), or employing prop c ...
s, and other theatrical and musical events, is a Grade II listed building
In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.
History
The front part of the current structure was commissioned as a corn exchange in the mid-1860s. It was designed by George Alfred Dean in the Italianate style, built in red brick and was officially opened on 28 October 1868. The design involved an asymmetrical main frontage facing onto Clifford Street and featured a series of linked round headed windows on the first floor. Internally, the principal room was the main hall which was long and wide. However, the use of the building as a corn exchange declined significantly in the wake of the Great Depression of British Agriculture in the late 19th century.
In the early 20th century, William Peacock acquired the corn exchange and a warehouse located just behind it. The two buildings were brought together at a cost of £24,000, to a design by John Priestley Briggs, to create a music hall. Internally, the principal room was the main auditorium which featured raked seating, a proscenium arch and a stage. It was officially opened with a performance of a pantomime, ''Little Red Riding Hood
"Little Red Riding Hood" () is a fairy tale by Charles Perrault about a young girl and a Big Bad Wolf. Its origins can be traced back to several pre-17th-century European Fable, folk tales. It was later retold in the 19th-century by the Broth ...
'', starring Florrie Forde, as the Grand Theatre and Opera House on 20 January 1902. In an attempt to appeal to a wider audience, it was renamed as the Grand Opera House & Empire Theatre in 1903.
The theatre showed silent film
A silent film is a film without 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, w ...
s from an early stage. It was renamed the Empire Theatre in 1916, and then acquired by FJB Theatres, a business owned by Frederick Butterworth, in 1945. Butterworth closed it because of "the crippling Entertainment Tax" in 1956.
Ernest Shepherd, whose offices were in the Shambles
Shambles is an obsolete term for an open-air slaughterhouse and meat market.
Shambles or The Shambles may also refer to:
*The Shambles, a historic street in York, England
*The Shambles, Malton, a historic street in North Yorkshire, England
*Shamb ...
, acquired the theatre in 1958 and renamed it the S. S. Empire (S.S. being an abbreviation for Shepherd of the Shambles). He removed the raked seating and stage so that it could be used as a bingo hall and roller skating
Roller skating is the act of travelling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreation, recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on s ...
rink. The S. S. Empire closed in 1985.
The building was acquired by new owners, the India Pru Company, in 1987. They restored the raked seating and stage at a cost of £4 million and re-opened it with a performance of ''Macbeth
''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...
'' as the Grand Opera House on 26 September 1989. It got into financial difficulties in 1991 and briefly closed before re-opening again in 1993. The building was bought by the Ambassador Theatre Group as part of a larger transaction in November 2009.
See also
*Corn exchanges in England
Corn exchanges are distinct buildings which were originally created as a venue for corn merchants to meet and arrange pricing with farmers for the sale of wheat, barley, and other corn crops. The word "corn" in British English denotes all cereal ...
References
External links
* {{coord, 53.95726, N, 1.08186, W, source:placeopedia, display=title 1902 establishments in England Commercial buildings completed in 1868 Grade II listed buildings in York Grade II listed theatres Buildings and structures in York Theatre in York Theatres in North Yorkshire Art Nouveau architecture in England Corn exchanges in England