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The Alexandra Theatre in Stoke Newington Road, London was designed by the renowned Theatre architect Frank Matcham and built in 1897.

The Theatre had a capacity on opening of over 1,700.

In 1906 the Theatre was renamed the Palace Theatre of Varieties but the name reverted to the original in 1909.

By 1910 the Alexandra Theatre was being managed by the Alexandra Theatre Stock Company and producing Variety shows and Cinema but by 1917 the Theatre had been turned over to full time Cinema.

Right - Programme for 'Boys Will Be Boys' at the Alexandra Theatre, Stoke Newington - Click to see the Entire Programme.

In 1920 the Theatre reverted to Theatrical use again, with a variety of productions including Pantomime, Films and Circus performances.

The Theatre closed down completely in 1935 but reopened in 1939.

By 1947 the Alexandra was home to the New Yiddish Theatre Company which ran the Theatre until it closed in 1949.

The Theatre was demolished in 1950 and Alexandra Court arose on the site.

Some of the above textual Information gleaned from British History Online.

Kingsland and Stoke Newington
From 'The Face of London' by Harold P. Clunne 1957

After passing Dalston Station we come to Kingsland High Street, which, together with Stoke Newington Road and High Street, forms a busy shopping thoroughfare about a mile long, extending north to Stamford Hill. Just off Kingsland High Street on the east side is Ridley Road, at the entrance to which is a wide opening that serves as a street market. During week-ends this ground has been the rendezvous for numerous political meetings resulting in riots between Fascists and Jews in which passions and heated arguments reached boiling point. Because of these disturbances all political gatherings in public thoroughfares are now prohibited by law.

On the west side of Stoke Newington Road is the Alexandra Theatre and the Savoy Cinema and there is an Odeon Cinema in Kingsland High Street. Kingsland is supposed to have derived its name from a royal residence or mansion on Stoke Newington Green, traditionally said to have been frequented by Henry VIII when indulging in the pleasures of the chase. Until about the middle of the eighteenth century it contained a hospital for lepers, which was annexed after the Reformation to St Bartholomew's Hospital, and was used as a sort of out-ward for that institution. Kingsland forms part of the metropolitan borough of Hackney, and has been joined to Shoreditch and London for well over a century. At the corner of Stoke Newington Road and Arnhurst Road are the ruins of West Hackney Church which has been destroyed in the blitz of 1940. Its facade, which has escaped destruction, has a portico of four column and a bell dock-tower. The Congregational church in Kingsland Road has also been destroyed

Right - The Alexandra Theatre, Stoke Newington - From a period Postcard.

Stoke Newington, now a metropolitan borough of 46,560 inhabitants, is situated between Hackney and Islington and is bounded on the north by Tottenham. Already in the Ambulator of 1774 it is described as 'a Pleasant village near Islington where a great number of the citizens of London have built houses and rendered it extremely populous, more like a large flourishing town than a village. The church', says the writer, 'is a low Gothic building belonging to the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's. Behind the church is a pleasant grove of tall trees where the inhabitants resort for the benefit of shade and a wholesome air.'

The name of Stoke Newington denotes the new village or town built on the borders of a wood. In the words of Walford's Old and New London, our land is full of Stokes, and wherever there is a Stoke we may be sure there was once a wood. The wood in which Stoke Newington was situated formed part of the great Middlesex forest. In 1835 it consisted principally of the one long street already mentioned, which extends from Kingsland Road to Stamford Hill on the high road from London to Cambridge, and at that time contained a population of 3,500 inhabitants. The eastern side of the main road is in Hackney, and branching off on the western side near the centre of the town is Church Street, leading to the parish church and Green Lanes. Alderman Pickett, who instituted the great improvements in the Strand near Temple Bar, is buried in the churchyard, together with his son and daughter.

At the corner of Church Street overlooking the churchyard is the handsome new Town Hall opened on 3 July 1937. This is a building of yellow brick with stone dressings and circular columns on the ground floor. It has replaced the old Town Hall in Milton Grove.

On the opposite side of Church Street is the handsome modern church of St Mary, built in 1838 from the designs of Sir G. Gilbert Scott. Albion Road, to the south of Church Street, leads to Newington Green, a large square which still retains its old-world appearance and which is surrounded by lofty elm-trees. Adjoining the parish church is Clissold Park, laid out in 1889 and named after Augustus Clissold, a curate of this neighbourhood who died in 1882. It extends westwards as far as Green Lanes and covers an area of fifty-five acres.

Left - Programme for 'Up In Mabel's Room' by Wilson Collison and Otto Harbach, Arthor of 'No, No, Nanette,' at the Alexandra Theatre, Stoke Newington in 1928.

On the north side of Church Street is Abney Park Cemetery, laid out about 1840 on the site of the grounds of the mansion of Sir Thomas Abney, a member of the Fishmongers' Company and a distinguished Nonconformist He was knighted by William, III and became Lord Mayor of London in 1700. His daughter, Miss Abney, ordered by her will that after her death the estate of Abney Park should be sold and the proceeds distributed amongst charities and given to the poor. It was accordingly sold to Mr Jonathan Eade and later became a college for youths of the Wesleyan Society, until it was pulled down in 1845. The Town Hall is on the north side of Church Street and in Lordship Road are several large new blocks of workers' flats.

Kingsland and Stoke Newington From 'The Face of London' by Harold P. Clunne 1957.