Theatre royal
Building first erected in 1663 at Drury Lane for Thomas Killigrew, the manager of the King's Company. Destroyed by a fire in 1672, rebuilt between 1672 and 1674.
- 1775: new façade by Robert Adam
- 1783: remodeled by Thomas Greenwood and William Capon
- 1791-1794: rebuilt by Henry Holland
- 1809: destroyed by a fire
- 1811-12: rebuilt by Benjamin Dean Wyatt
- 2013: refurbished in the style of 1812
The Theatre Royal became the first neo-classical theatre in London. The entrance was built with a five-bay frontispiece and above, the façade was decorated in the style of a temple front of attenuated Ionic pilasters. The ends of the pilasters were surmounted by masks of tragedy and comedy. In the centre of the pediment was a coat-of-arms. At the apex of the pediment were a lion on the left hand corner and a unicorn on the right hand corner facing towards the middle, which was decorated with a trophy derived from those of Marius on the Campidoglio in Rome (Stillman). The interior was decorated in a very elaborate style. The boxes were framed by small pilasters. The masterpiece was the ceiling, which was “painted in imitation of octagonal coffering in the circular shape of a dome, with corner filled by figural medallions with swags” (Stillman).
However, Adam was criticized for his extravagant fashion and the “glittering effect” of his remodeling, therefore, the Theatre Royal was modified again.
Sources:
- Stillman, Damie.English Neo-classical Architecture, 2vols. In Studies in Architecture. Ed. by Laing, Alsatair and Harris, John. 26vols. London: Zwemmer Ltd. 1988