Listed Building record TQ 76 NE 1217 - OLD THEATRE ROYAL

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
TQ 7567 CHATHAM HIGH STREET
762-1/4/14 Old Theatre Royal
05.10.88
GV II
Theatre. 1899, by G E Bond, damaged by fire c1965. Painted faience tiles and moulded decoration, yellow stock brick with red brick dressings and hipped slate roof. Free Italianate style with Moorish turrets. PLAN: deep rectangular site with front foyer and rear auditorium at right angles. EXTERIOR: foyer section 2 storeys; 2 bay range. Entrance has mid C20 altered ground floor, an open first floor arcade of 2 paired round arches with balustrade and enriched capitals, dentil cornices to ground and first floors extend to the right return, and a raised open pediment with a central plinth flanked by octagonal Moorish domes; behind the arcade are 4 round-arched casements as the front with moulded surrounds and glazing bars. The right hand return includes 2 first floor sashes and a central lateral stack with curved side supports and ball finials; behind are 2 further brick linking sections of 3 and 4 windows; the back of the large rear auditorium has a central square tower fronted by a pediment to the street, with a raking roof each side up to a tall hipped roof with square cupola vents over the proscenium, and a raking lower roof behind to the auditorium. Irregular rear elevation. INTERIOR: auditorium has central dome with decoration of plasterwork swags and 2 tiers of balconies. The upper tier has painted plaster panels and moulded cherubs. The lower tier is much damaged but has a decoration of cherubs, swags and console brackets. The boxes have been removed and the proscenium arch blocked up. The balconies are supported on cast iron columns, but the ground floor ones are encased in concrete. No seating remains. The foyer retains one tiled panel, probably representing one of Shakespeare's female characters. Original staircase with twisted balusters and column newel. Former bar ceiling has strapwork decoration and coved cornice. Top floor retains some floral tiled panels and dado rail.
Listing NGR: TQ7558867933 (1)

The Theatre Royal, Chatham, was built in 1899 to the designs of G E Bond. It has painted faience tiles and moulded decoration, yellow stock brick with red brick dressings and a hipped slate roof. The entrance facade has an Italianate loggia in four (2+2) semi-circular arched bays. Above this, a central blind attic rises above the parapet and is crowned with a broken pediment. On either side, small towers were originally capped with onion domes. By the 1950s the theatre suffered from declining attendances and in 1955 it was closed and subdivided to form shops and a warehouse. In the early 1980s, a furniture showroom occupied most of the foyer areas and used the auditorium, whose floor had been levelled in concrete, for storage. After a fire gutted the stage house in the 1960s, the proscenium opening was filled with brickwork and the damaged boxes were removed, but the enriched tier fronts and ceiling remained almost intact. When shop use ceased, neglect and vandalism led to further deterioration. The theatre is now owned by The Theatre Royal Chatham Trust who are leading a campaign to restore the building to its former glory (2)

Historic England archive material: BF087821 OLD THEATRE ROYAL, HIGH STREET, CHATHAM

<1> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

<2> 2000, The Theatres Trust Guide to British Theatres, 1750-1950 (Monograph). SKE55521.