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

West End of London The West End of London (commonly referred to as the West End) is a district of Central London, Central London, England, in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden and the City of Westminster. It is west of the City of London an ...

. 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 The German Reed Entertainments were founded in 1855 and operated by Thomas German Reed (1817–1888) together with his wife, Priscilla German Reed (née Horton) (1818–1895). At a time when the theatre in London was seen as a disreput ...

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

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

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 Rose Hersee (13 December 1845 – 26 November 1924) was an English operatic soprano. She was a founder-member of the Carl Rosa Opera Company and later formed and performed in the Rose Hersee Opera Company. Biography Hersee was the daughter of He ...

and

Madeline Schiller Madeline Schiller (also Madeleine Schiller) (November 8, 1843 July 3, 1911) was an English-born pianist. Schiller was born in London. After early studies in London with Benjamin Isaacs, Julius Benedict, and Charles Hallé, in 1860 she went to Le ...

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 Thomas German Reed (27 June 1817 – 21 March 1888), known after 1844 as simply German Reed was an English composer, musical director, actor, singer and theatrical manager of the Victorian era. He was best known for creating the German Ree ...

, who initially produced and conducted ''

The Contrabandista ''The Contrabandista'', ''or The Law of the Ladrones'', is a two-act comic opera by Arthur Sullivan and F. C. Burnand. It premiered at St. George's Hall, in London, on 18 December 1867 under the management of Thomas German Reed, for a run of 7 ...

'' (a

comic opera Comic opera, sometimes known as light opera, is a sung dramatic work of a light or comic nature, usually with a happy ending and often including spoken dialogue. Forms of comic opera first developed in late 17th-century Italy. By the 1730s, a ne ...

Arthur Sullivan Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan (13 May 1842 – 22 November 1900) was an English composer. He is best known for 14 comic opera, operatic Gilbert and Sullivan, collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including ''H.M.S. Pinaf ...

and F. C. Burnand), ''

The Beggar's Opera ''The Beggar's Opera'' is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of sati ...

'' and other English operas in small-scale productions. In 1874, Reed's wife, Priscilla German Reed, moved the

German Reed Entertainment The German Reed Entertainments were founded in 1855 and operated by Thomas German Reed (1817–1888) together with his wife, Priscilla German Reed (née Horton) (1818–1895). At a time when the theatre in London was seen as a disreputa ...

s to St. George's Hall. Like their earlier theatre, the

Gallery of Illustration The Royal Gallery of Illustration was a 19th-century performance venue located at 14 Regent Street in London. It was in use between 1850 and 1873. The gallery was built in the 1820s by the architect John Nash (architect), John Nash as part of h ...

, 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 Sir William Schwenck Gilbert (18 November 1836 – 29 May 1911) was an English dramatist, librettist, poet and illustrator best known for his collaboration with composer Arthur Sullivan, which produced fourteen comic operas. The most fam ...

's farce, ''A Medical Man'' (1872) and his one-act

, ''

Eyes and No Eyes An eye is a sensory organ that allows an organism to perceive visual information. It detects light and converts it into electro-chemical impulses in neurons (neurones). It is part of an organism's visual system. In higher organisms, the eye ...

'' (1875).

John Baldwin Buckstone John Baldwin Buckstone (14 September 1802 – 31 October 1879) was an English actor, playwright and comedian who wrote 150 plays, the first of which was produced in 1826. He starred as a comic actor during much of his career for various periods ...

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 Gerald Massey (; 29 May 1828 – 29 October 1907) was an English poet and writer on Spiritualism and Ancient Egypt. Early life Massey was born near Tring, Hertfordshire in England to poor parents. When little more than a child, he was made to ...

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 Gilbert Arthur à Beckett (April 7, 1837 – October 15, 1891) was an English writer. Biography Beckett was born at Portland House Hammersmith, on 7 April 1837, the eldest son of the civil servant and humorist Gilbert Abbott à Beckett and t ...

presented ''Two Foster Brothers'', composed by

Alfred Cellier Alfred Cellier (1 December 184428 December 1891) was an English composer, orchestrator and conductor. In addition to conducting and music directing the original productions of several of the most famous Gilbert and Sullivan works and writing th ...

(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 William Poel (22 July 1852 – 13 December 1934) was an English actor, theatrical manager and dramatist best known for his presentations of Shakespeare. Life and career A son of William Pole, he grew up among Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood paint ...

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

Clay Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolinite, ). Most pure clay minerals are white or light-coloured, but natural clays show a variety of colours from impuriti ...

's '' Ages Ago'', which was revived again there in 1874. Except for a brief stint at the

Criterion Theatre The Criterion Theatre is a West End theatre at Piccadilly Circus in the City of Westminster, and is a Grade II* listed building. It has a seating capacity of 588. Building the theatre In 1870, the caterers Spiers and Pond began developmen ...

in 1874 and at the

Savoy Theatre The Savoy Theatre is a West End theatre in the Strand in the City of Westminster, London, England. The theatre was designed by C. J. Phipps for Richard D'Oyly Carte and opened on 10 October 1881 on a site previously occupied by the Savoy ...

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

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 John Nevil Maskelyne (22 December 1839 – 18 May 1917) was an English stage magician and inventor of the pay toilet, along with other Victorian-era devices. He worked with magicians George Alfred Cooke and David Devant, and many of his illus ...

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