The Queen's Theatre (originally Queen's Hall) is a theatre building in

Burslem Burslem ( ) is one of the six towns that along with Hanley, Staffordshire, Hanley, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton, Longton, Staffordshire, Longton and Stoke-upon-Trent form part of the city of Stoke-on-Trent in ...

Stoke-on-Trent Stoke-on-Trent (often abbreviated to Stoke) is a city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in Staffordshire, England. It has an estimated population of 259,965 as of 2022, making it the largest settlement in Staffordshire ...

, England. It is situated in Wedgwood Street in the town centre. It 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 ...

, listed on 19 April 1972.

History

It was commissioned as Burslem's town hall, to replace the town hall built in the 1850s, and was built by the architects Russell and Cooper."Queen's Hall"
thepotteries.org. Retrieved 31 December 2019. Completed in 1911, after the

Federation of Stoke-on-Trent The federation of Stoke-on-Trent was the 1910 amalgamation of the six Staffordshire Potteries towns of Burslem, Tunstall, Staffordshire, Tunstall, Stoke-upon-Trent, Hanley, Staffordshire, Hanley, Fenton, Staffordshire, Fenton and Longton, Staffor ...

in 1910 made its original purpose obsolete, the building was opened as the Queen's Theatre, a venue for drama, concerts and other entertainments."Queen's Theatre"
Breaking the Mould. Retrieved 31 December 2019. Requiring repairs, the theatre closed in 1998. From 2003 events occasionally took place; it closed again in 2014."Queen's Theatre"
Theatres Trust. Retrieved 31 December 2019.

Architecture

The front, faced with

ashlar Ashlar () is a cut and dressed rock (geology), stone, worked using a chisel to achieve a specific form, typically rectangular in shape. The term can also refer to a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, a ...

, has a

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

of full height with three pairs of

Corinthian column The Corinthian order (, ''Korinthiakós rythmós''; ) is the last developed and most ornate of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order, which was the earliest, ...

s and 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 ...

above; there is a windowless attic storey above this. There is a large doorway between each pair of columns. To the right of the main frontage is a wing of the building, of two storeys, with ten windows on each storey and an entrance. It is supposed that this part, being less ornate, was created after it was known that the building was no longer intended as a town hall. The foyer has a white marble staircase at each end. The auditorium has a rear and side balconies, and a ceiling with decorative plasterwork and large

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

lamps.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Buildings and structures in Stoke-on-Trent Grade II listed buildings in Staffordshire Theatres in Staffordshire