Hampstead Conservatoire

The Hampstead Conservatoire was a private college for music and the arts at 64, Eton Avenue, Swiss Cottage, London.[1] One of the founders was Florence Ashton Marshall.[2]

The building, previously the Eton Avenue Hall, was reconstructed in 1890.[3] It was equipped with a large pipe organ, built ca. 1887-8 by the London firm of Henry Willis & Sons[4] with forty-three stops spread over four manuals and pedals.

The hey-day of the conservatoire was 1896 - 1905, when its Principal was Cecil Sharp.[5] Arnold Bax was one of its pupils between 1898 and 1900.[6] It was also notable for an early and celebrated production of Dido and Aeneas in 1900 by Martin Shaw and Gordon Craig.[7]

The organ was removed and transferred to St Peter's Parish Church, Brighton in 1910.[8] The conservatoire had closed by 1928 when the building was converted into the Embassy Theatre. The building is now part of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama[9]

  1. ^ remotegoat website Archived 2011-07-20 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ^ 'Florence Ashton Marshall 1843-1922', in Salon Without Boundaries, 21 September, 2022
  3. ^ The Theatres Trust
  4. ^ "The National Pipe Organ Register - the Hampstead Conservatoire of Music".
  5. ^ Heaney, Michael (2004). "Sharp, Cecil James". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
  6. ^ Foreman, Lewis (2004). "Bax, Sir Arnold Edward Trevor". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press.
  7. ^ Innes, Christopher (1998). Edward Gordon Craig: a Vision of Theatre. Taylor & Francis.
  8. ^ "The National Pipe Organ Register - St Peter's, Brighton: The Willis Organ".
  9. ^ British History Online: Hampstead Social and Cultural Activities