I'm not sure that this qualifies as a general question, but I have been searching (desperately) for a picture of St. James's Hall, on Lime Street -- preferably dating from the 1860s. Have searched the internet using every method I can think of and looked in all the Liverpool books and British theatre books I have access to.
I'll be giving a paper at a conference next Thursday so it's kind of last-minute, but if you can assist in any way I will be very grateful.
All the best,
Brian
Brian Thompson
Department of Music
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Shatin, NT, Hong Kong SAR, China
St. James's Hall on Lime Street
Hello Brian,
ReplyDeleteSt. James's Hall was originally designed by Edward Tuton and opened in the late 1840s as the Teutonic Hall. However after only ten years the building was converted and split into two. On the ground floor was Allsopp's new Crystal Palace Waxworks whilst upstairs was a new version of the Teutonic Hall which showed Dioramas.
It was renamed The Palais De Lux Cinema, showing 'The Arts Of Humanity.'The building was again converted in 1859 and the top hall renamed the Theatre Variete. In 1863 the Charles Christy Minstrel Shows were staged here and became very popular. The Theatre also became home to regular theatre in 1865. In 1868 the Theatre was renamed again, this time to the St. James's Hall and Operetta House and housed Ballet, Opera and Plays but by 1870 it had become the regular home for the Minstrels again.
The Theatre was destroyed by fire on the 2nd of May 1875 but the Waxworks survived. The building was later converted into shops and an Oyster bar on the ground floor and a new Theatre was built above with a capacity of 1,000. This new Theatre opened on the 1st of May 1876 and retained the St. James's Hall name.
In 1886 the Hall was taken over by James Kiernan who had also run the Park Palace and the Paddington Palace. He set about converting the Theatre on a grand scale. The Tivoli Palace of Varieties opened on the 2nd of March 1896. On the Bill for the opening night was Marie Lloyd, engaged at considerable expense, and Harry King Lloyd, son of Arthur Lloyd.
I could only locate the above photo of St James Hall as the Palais De Lux Cinema.
Regards
Rob Ainsworth
Web Administrator
Liverpool History Society