Canterbury Music Hall

Canterbury Music Hall
Canterbury Hall
Canterbury Palace of Varieties
Canterbury Theatre
Canterbury Theatre of Varieties[1]
Interior of the Canterbury Hall, shown in a print of 1856
Map
Address143 Westminster Bridge Road
Lambeth, London
Coordinates51°29′57″N 0°06′48″W / 51.4991°N 0.1134°W / 51.4991; -0.1134
OwnerCharles Morton
DesignationDemolished
TypeMusic hall
Capacity1852 700 seated
1854 1,500
Construction
Opened17 May 1852
Closed1942 (bomb damaged)
Rebuilt1852, 1854, 1858 Samuel Field
1876 E. Bridgeman
1890 Frank Matcham
1902 Wylson and Long

The Canterbury Music Hall was established in 1852 by Charles Morton on the site of a former skittle alley adjacent to the Canterbury Tavern at 143 Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth. It was one of the first purpose-built music halls in London, and "probably the largest and grandest concert-room ever attached to a public house" in London.[2] Morton came to be dubbed the Father of the Halls as hundreds of imitators were built within the next several years. The theatre was rebuilt three times, and the last theatre on the site was destroyed by bombing in 1942.

  1. ^ Playbills and programmes from London theatre 1801-1900 Center for Research Libraries Chadwyck-Healey Microfiche Edition
  2. ^ Jackson, Lee. Palaces of Pleasure. From Music Hallsto the Seaside to Football, How the Victorians Invented Mass Entertainment (p 57).