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The London Hippodrome, Hippodrome Corner, Cranbourn Street, City of Westminster

Formerly Hippodrome Theatre / Talk Of The Town

The London Hippodrome in London's Leicester Square was built for Edward Moss by the renowned Theatre Architect Frank Matcham and opened on the 15th of January 1900 with a Circus and Variety Show. There are a great many articles about this Theatre on the site and a full index to them can be found here. In the mean time the following details about the Hippodrome, courtesy the Theatre's Trust, can be found below.

Originally built for Edward Moss as a Hippodrome for circuses, it had a vast tank for water spectacles. The sight lines were adjusted to suit both circus arena and proscenium action.

Right - The London Hippodrome - From a postcard sent in 1910.

Left - London Hippodrome seating plan - Click to Enlarge.

The 1909 works enlarged the stage and advanced the proscenium to suit the theatre for variety rather than circus and, from 1912, revue.

The Hippodrome occupies an island site with principal elevations to Charing Cross Road and Cranbourn Street, and contains, in addition to the theatre, ground-floor shops on the main frontages, with Cranbourn Mansions in the upper storeys.

Above - The Hippodrome Auditorium in 1957 - Courtesy Charlie Gracie Jnr.

Elevations in red sandstone, red brick and terracotta in a free classical style, the bays divided by giant Ionic pilasters supported on elongated brackets which occupy the full height of the first floor, the pilasters rising through the second and third floors to carry a weakly accented fourth-floor attic storey and a crowning balustrade. There were formerly giant figures of Roman soldiers above. Most bays have canted windows rising from terms and linked by a balustrade at second-floor level. The corner bay is framed by giant Ionic engaged columns carrying entablature blocks and an open pediment, above which rises a short but floridly detailed tower with a skeletal iron dome crowned by a lively sculptured group of a chariot with rearing horses. Giant letters with the name of the theatre on the Little Newport Street front. In 1959, the old iron and glass entrance canopy was replaced by one of no distinction.