St. George's Hall was a theatre located in Langham Place, off

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George IV of the United Kingdom, George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash (architect), J ...

in the

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. It was built in 1867 and closed in 1966. The hall could accommodate between 800 and 900 persons, or up to 1,500 persons including the galleries. The architect was John Taylor of Whitehall.History of the Hall from the Arthur Lloyd website
/ref> The hall was known for three decades for its presentation of the German Reed Entertainments alongside other musical works and lectures. After 1895, it was used for

vaudeville Vaudeville (; ) is a theatrical genre of variety entertainment which began in France in the middle of the 19th century. A ''vaudeville'' was originally a comedy without psychological or moral intentions, based on a comical situation: a drama ...

, drama, magic shows, as the headquarters of the London Academy of Music, and even as a skating rink. In 1933, it became a

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broadcasting studio but was shut down after extensive damage from bombing in March 1943. The theatre was demolished in 1966, and St George's Hotel (now called Treehouse Hotel London) and

Henry Wood Sir Henry Joseph Wood (3 March 186919 August 1944) was an English conductor best known for his association with London's annual series of promenade concerts, known as the Proms. He conducted them for nearly half a century, introducing hundr ...

House now stand on the site.

German Reed Entertainments and lectures

The hall was built as a concert hall for the New Philharmonic Society and opened on 24 April 1867. Rose Hersee and Madeline Schiller performed at the opening. The Hall could also be used as a theatre, and the first production at "St. George's Theatre" was ''A Woman's Whim'' by Walter Stephens on 3 December 1867. Soon afterwards, the theatre was leased by Thomas German Reed, who initially produced and conducted '' The Contrabandista'' (a

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and F. C. Burnand), '' The Beggar's Opera'' and other English operas in small-scale productions. In 1874, Reed's wife, Priscilla German Reed, moved the German Reed Entertainments to St. George's Hall. Like their earlier theatre, the Gallery of Illustration, St. George's had a small stage, and musical works were presented with only piano and harmonium. Thomas retired in 1871, and his son Alfred continued to run the theatre with his mother until her retirement in 1879 and, beginning in 1877, in partnership with Richard Corney Grain, until both their deaths in 1895. The pieces premiered there included W. S. Gilbert's farce, ''A Medical Man'' (1872) and his one-act

, '' Eyes and No Eyes'' (1875). John Baldwin Buckstone wrote ''Married Life'', and John Maddison Morton wrote ''Slasher and Crasher'' for the hall, both in 1872. In addition to performances, there were regular lectures in the hall, the Chartist Gerald Massey gave a series of lectures in 1872, on ''Christianity and Spiritualism''. The theist Charles Voysey gave regular Sunday sermons from 1875, after his ejection from the established church.

H. G. Wells Herbert George Wells (21 September 1866 – 13 August 1946) was an English writer, prolific in many genres. He wrote more than fifty novels and dozens of short stories. His non-fiction output included works of social commentary, politics, hist ...

described a visit to one tedious Sunday lecture in ''Incidental Thoughts on a Bald Head''. When they were not presenting a piece at the hall, it was rented it out to amateurs or other entertainments. At the hall Gilbert Arthur à Beckett presented ''Two Foster Brothers'', composed by Alfred Cellier (1877), and ''Once in a Century'', with music by Vivian Bligh. Henry Pottinger Stephens wrote his first

burlesque A burlesque is a literary, dramatic or musical work intended to cause laughter by caricaturing the manner or spirit of serious works, or by ludicrous treatment of their subjects.

, ''Back from India'' for the hall in 1879, as well as ''Hobbies'' in 1885, with William Yardley and music by George Gear. ''Cherry Tree Farm'' and ''All at Sea'' played in 1881. The same year, William Poel produced his ''

Hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime between 1599 and 1601. It is Shakespeare's longest play. Set in Denmark, the play (the ...

''. In the early 1880s, Eric Lewis sometimes substituted at the Hall for Corney Grain."Death Of Mr. Eric Lewis", ''The Times'', 2 April 1935, p. 12 Herbert Gardiner wrote ''A Night in Wales'' (1885) for the hall with music by Corney Grain. Alfred J. Caldicott wrote a number of pieces for the hall, including ''A Treasure Trove'', ''A Moss Rose Rent'' (1883), ''Old Knockles'' (1884), ''In Cupid's Court'' (1885), ''The Friar'' (1886), ''Tally Ho'' (1887), ''Wanted, An Heir and The Boson's Mate'' (1888), ''John Smith'' (1889), ''The Old Bureau'' (1891), and ''An Old Pair'' (1893). Fanny Holland starred in many of the entertainments, along with Mr. and Mrs. German Reed, their son Alfred, Holland's husband Arthur Law, Corney Grain, Arthur Cecil (all of whom also wrote for the hall) Carlotta Carrington and Leonora Braham, who made her professional stage debut in 1870 at the hall in a revival of Gilbert and

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's '' Ages Ago'', which was revived again there in 1874. Except for a brief stint at the Criterion Theatre in 1874 and at the Savoy Theatre in 1879-80, Holland starred at St. George's until 1895 in entertainments too numerous to name. Many of the entertainments were written by Law, including ''A Night Surprise'' (1877), ''Nobody's Fault'', composed by Hamilton Clarke (1882), and ''A Happy Bungalow'', with music by Charles King Hall. Other pieces from the 1870s starring Holland included ''Number 204'' by F. C. Burnand, with music by Thomas German Reed; and ''Our New Doll's House'' by W. Wye, with music by Cotsford Dick.

Later uses of the hall

After the German Reed Entertainments closed in 1895, the building changed its name to the Matinee Theatre, on 17 April 1897, presenting "high class

," but it was not very successful. A series of German plays were then produced, but in 1904 the hall closed. In 1905, magician John Nevil Maskelyne renovated, expanded and reopened the 'St George's Hall, England's New Home of Mystery,' on 24 January 1905 with ''The Coming Race'' by David Christie Murray and Maskelyne. Maskelyne's entertainments were called ''Maskelyne's Theatre of Mystery.'' The theatre also hosted meetings of The Magic Circle, an association of amateur and professional magicians, and its members David Devant and Maskelyne continued to give magic shows for many years. One was called ''Maskelyne and Devant's Mysteries'', which was presented in August 1910. The hall was also used as a ''Bioscope Picture Palace'', although with a reduced capacity of 500. The building also was used as the headquarters of the London Academy of Music. The hall was later converted to use as a skating rink. St. George's was finally acquired by

Eric Maschwitz Albert Eric Maschwitz Order of the British Empire, OBE (10 June 1901 – 27 October 1969), sometimes credited as Holt Marvell, was an English entertainer, writer, editor, broadcaster and broadcasting executive. Life and work Born in Edgbaston, ...

for the

in 1933 for broadcasts of vaudeville, comedy and revue shows, and opened as a studio on 25 November 1933. The BBC installed the BBC Theatre Organ in 1936, a ''Compton Melotone and Electrostatic Organ'', this enabled a wide range of sounds to be produced during performances. Reginald Foort was appointed resident organist. The hall sustained extensive damage from bombing in September 1940, May 1941 (when the

Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, 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. Fro ...

across the road was destroyed) and March 1943.Institute of Broadcast Sound
accessed 16 April 2007 The BBC studios moved to the Aeolian Hall, in New Bond Street. The building was demolished in 1966, and together with the Queen's Hall site the location was used for the construction of the St George's Hotel (now called Treehouse Hotel London) and Henry Wood House.

Notes

External links

* Gänzl, Kurt, ''The British Musical Theatre'', Macmillan, vol.I, London, 1986.
Information about ''Nobody's Fault'' (1882) and other early productions at the theatre, and information about Fanny Holland, principal actress at the theatre

Information about concerts given at the hall in 1899

With original archive programmes. {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Georges Hall, London Former concert halls in London Former theatres in London Theatres completed in 1867 Buildings and structures demolished in 1966 Former buildings and structures in the City of Westminster 1867 establishments in England