Strand Musick Hall / Old Gaiety Theatre / New Gaiety Theatre,

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Strand Musick Hall / Old Gaiety Theatre / New Gaiety Theatre,
Aldwych, Strand, London .

The Strand Musick Hall in the Strand, where the Aldwych is now, was built in 1864. It was rebuilt and renamed the Gaiety Theatre in 1868. (Arthur Lloyd performed here in his early days in London.) This Music Hall was later demolished for the Aldwych widening scheme and the New Gaiety Theatre was built close by in the newly built Aldwych in 1903. This theatre also subsequently closed in 1939 and was then demolished in 1956. A new building for the English Electric Company was then built on the site. This building was demolished in 2006 and now a new hotel is currently being built on the site.

Details of all these Theatres and buildings are on this page but you may also be interested in the folloing additional pages on this site about the Gaiety Theatre and Strand Musik Hall:

August's Special Feature

Page two for the Gaiety theatre

The Gaiety Restaurant and Marconi House

Playbill for Arthur Lloyd at The Gaiety Theatre

The ERA review on the opening of the Strand Musick Hall

The ERA review on the opening of the Old Gaiety Theatre

The Times reprint on the opening of the Old Gaiety Theatre

Last performance programme for the original Gaiety Theatre

Pictures of the Gaiety Theatre site from the 1800s to the present day.

Strand Musick Hall

Running obliquely from the bottom of Catherine Street to Wellington Street was formerly a small arcade, built by the late Marquis of Exeter-a lineal descendant of the great Lord Burleigh, whose family still own the property-with the view of resuscitating the glories of old Exeter' Change. He entrusted the work to Mr. Sydney Smirke, the well known architect, who designed a polygonal cornpartment at each end of the arcade, which comprised ten neat shops with dwellings over them. There were "polychromic arabesque decorations, imitation bronze gates, and other ornamentations; and the street fronts, of fine red brick, with stone dressings, were in good Jacobean style." But the place, as a business speculation, was a total failure; the public gave the arcade " the cold shoulder;" the shops were mostly tenantless, and an air of solitariness and desertion seemed to take possession of it.

Left - The Strand Musick Hall interior in 1864. From 'The Lost Theatres Of London' Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson 1975 - Click to see The ERA review of this building.

The site was in the end considered eligible as part of the design for a large music hall, fronting the Strand; and within the year 1863, after a short and struggling career, the arcade disappeared. The Strand Music Hall, which rose upon its site, does not appear to have been much more successful than its predecessor, for in a very short time the company, under whose auspices the music hall was erected, collapsed, and the building underwent another transformation. An elegant and fashionable theatre - the "Gaiety" - with a commodious and well appointed restaurant adjoining, has taken its place.

Old Gaiety Theatre

The "Gaiety," which was opened in 1868, will seat 2,000 persons. It was built from the designs of Mr. C. J. Phillips, and in the Gothic style of architecture. The entrance in the Strand leads by a few steps to the level of the stalls, and by a spacious staircase to the balcony or grand tier, and the upper boxes. Another entrance in Exeter Street, designed as a private entrance for the Royal Family, is available as an exit way in case of a sudden panic, there being a stone staircase from the doorway to the highest part of the theatre, with communications on every level. The entrances to the pit and gallery are in Catherine Street, and the stage entrance is in Wellington Street. The columns supporting the various tiers of boxes, &C., are carried up to a sufficient height above the gallery, and from the cap springs a series of pointed arches, supporting cornice and coved ceiling, in the centre of which is a sun-light burner.

Right - The Old Gaiety Theatre Interior 1868 - From 'The Lost Theatres Of London' Raymond Mander and Joe Mitchenson - Click to see The ERA review.

There is a depth of some twenty feet below the stage, for sinking large scenes, and a height of fifty feet above. The original decoration of the interior was striking and effective, a very noticeable feature being the frieze over the proscenium, which was designed and painted by Mr. H. S. Marks. It represents a king and queen of mediaeval times, with surrounding courtiers, watching a "mask" which is being performed before them. The " Gaiety" deserves the credit, be it great or small, of having been the first to acclimatize in London what is known as the Opera Bouffe of Paris. The pieces played on the night of the opening were the operetta of The Two Harlequins and a comedy drama, entitled On the Cards in the last of which pieces the veteran Mr. Alfred Wigan displayed some admirable acting. The opening night closed with the extravaganza of Robert The Devil. The entertainment given at the "Gaiety " consists of burlesque, farce, operetta, &-c., and among the names associated with the house are those of Miss Nellie Farren, Mr. Edward Terry, and the late Fred Leslie. A sumptuous restaurant was attached to the theatre at first starting; but it was afterwards separated, owing to the stringency of a clause in the Licensing Act.

Text from 'Old And New London' 1897.

The Waldorf Hotel with the Waldorf (now Strand) Theatre (left) and the Aldwych Theatre (right) c.1906.

Above - The Waldorf Hotel with the Waldorf (now Novello Theatre (left) and the Aldwych Theatre (right) c.1906. The corner of the Gaiety Theatre may just be seen at the extreme left foreground. Opposite the Waldorf Theatre, on Catherine Street is the 'unique site' which because of an Ancient Lights ruling remained vacant until 1925 when the Duchess Theatre was built on part of it. On the horizon, behind the Aldwych Theatre may be glimpsed some of the roof of Drury Lane Theatre. Bedford Lemere took the photograph from the rear of the site now occupied by India House. To his right would have been the sites of two recently demolished theatres, The Globe (1868 - 1902) and the Opera Comique (1870 - 1899). Text and image from Theatrephile Volume 2 No.6 Spring 1985

New Gaiety Theatre

Above - The Gaiety Theatre in 1934 with Stanley Lupino and Laddie Cliff in 'Sporting Love' which ran for 302 performances. - Click to enlarge this postcard.

The following article was written by Harold P. Clunn in his 1956 book The Face Of London.

Postcard for the opening of the new Gaiety Theatre and it's first show (The Orchid) - 26th October 1904 Farther west, between Catherine Street and Wellington Street, stood the old Gaiety Theatre and Restaurant and the offices of the Morning Post. Parliament obliged the London County Council to reinstate these two concerns, and the present Gaiety Theatre was built at the eastern corner of Aldwych in 1903. A new building was erected for the Morning Post at the western corner of Aldwych, adjoining Wellington Street, approximately on the same site as the former building.

Right - Postcard for the opening of the new Gaiety Theatre and it's first show (The Orchid) - 26th October 1904.

The old Gaiety Theatre, built in 1864 for Mr Lionel Lawson, was originally called the Strand Music Hall. It was taken over in 1868 by Mr J. Hollingshead as a home of musical comedy and farce, and afterwards came into the possession of Mr George Edwardes. It had a side entrance in Catherine Street and stood on the ground now covered by the roadway of Aldwych.

Left - Gaiety Theatre site then and now - Click for many pictures.

When this theatre was demolished in 1903, swarms of rats were disturbed, causing a general invasion of the Gaiety Restaurant next door by these rodents, and much damage was done before they could be driven back into the sewers.

Right - Gaiety Theatre seating plan - Click to Enlarge.

By this time the construction of both the new Gaiety Theatre and the Restaurant was well advanced, and the following year the latter was removed to its new quarters. It was on a much grander scale than the old restaurant, but unfortunately it never enjoyed the same popularity and was therefore closed down altogether in 1908. This building afterwards became the headquarters of the Marconi Wireless Telegraph Company and was known as Marconi House; later it became the headquarters of the Ministry of Civil Aviation when it was renamed Ariel House. (Note: This part of the building still survives in 2002 and can be seen at the eastern end of what was the Gaiety Theatre site. M.L.) A small portion of the ground floor is occupied by Short's, the well-known wine house.

Foundations being laid for the New Gaiety Theatre - From 'Black & White Budget' September 28th 1901

TheatreLand sign on the side elevation of The CityBank building 2003

Above - TheatreLand sign on the side elevation of The CityBank building 2003. The Citibank building, in 2005, is beeing demolished to make way for a new Hotel. Click here for images.

Upon the occasion of the farewell performance at the old Gaiety Theatre in July 1903, there was keen competition among its patrons to secure admission, and the same eagerness was shown by these people to obtain admission to the opening performance of The Orchid (See postcard above right) at the new Gaiety Theatre on the 26th of the following October.

Left - Marconi House, formerly The Gaity Restaurant.

The handsome columns which adorn the exterior of the present Gaiety Theatre were not originally included in the design of Mr Norman Shaw, the architect, but the London County Council, wishing to make this corner building worthy of such a great London improvement, invited its proprietors to include these extra columns for the sake of effect, and agreed themselves to meet the extra expense which would be thus incurred. But when the formal claim for the cost of this work was presented to the London County Council, they regarded it as excessive and disputed the amount claimed. Litigation followed, as a result of which the Council had to pay the full sum claimed by the Gaiety Theatre Company.

By 1938 the interior appointments of the Gaiety Theatre had become out of date and to conform to the present-day regulations of the London County Council would have necessitated a heavy financial outlay before a renewal of the license could be granted.

Right - The Illustrated London News 1957 reports on the building soon to replace the Gaiety - Click to enlarge plus details.

The owners would not agree to carry out the necessary alterations and in 1939 the Gaiety Theatre was closed and its fixtures and fittings sold by auction. In 1946 the shell of the Gaiety Theatre, bombed during the war, was bought for £200,000 by Mr Lupino Lane who planned to modernize the building and reopen it as a centre of musical comedy. But after spending £35,000 on repairs, dryrot and worm-rot were encountered and restoration work was stopped altogether.Heartbroken at his failure to restore the Gaiety Theatre, into which task he had put his life-savings, Mr Lupino Lane sold the building for £190,000 to the Indian Government who are going to erect a new office building at a cost Of £300,000.

Left - Gaiety Theatre street scene - Click to enlarge.

The fine building at the junction of Wellington Street and Aldwych, erected for the Morning Post, was remodeled and, as Inveresk House, became the headquarters of Illustrated Newspapers Limited. In 1939 the Morning Post was amalgamated with the Daily Telegraph.

Continue to Page two of this Gaiety theatre feature...