Empress Theatre of Varieties

About

The Empress Theatre (variously later known as: The Empress Theatre of Varieties; Empress Music Hall; and, from 1957, Granada Cinema) was an entertainment venue located on the corner of Bernay's Grove and Brighton Terrace in Brixton, south London from 1898 to 1992 when the building was demolished and the site redeveloped for housing. The Empress Theatre was built for Messrs W. H.

Burney and W. J. Grimes and was designed by Wylson & Long and built by the contractor T.

L. Green. The Empress could seat 1,260 on three levels, stalls and pit, Dress Circle and Gallery, and had a large stage 60 foot wide by 40 deep with a proscenium opening 30 foot wide.

The electric lighting and heating was installed by Messrs Strode and Co.. The box-office hall was decorated with marble mosaic by Messrs Diespeker and Co., and was fitted with Japanese leather decorations. The auditorium, decorated in the French Renaissance style, was fitted with 'chaste embellishments' of nine panels 'each ornamented by a heraldic dive of griffins..

clawing a shield in delicate pink' measured 75 foot by 64 foot in the clear over which was a "lofty saucer-shaped dome". Over the proscenium, on each top corner, were positioned...