35-604: The Novelty Theatre (later renamed the Great Queen Street Theatre from 1900 to 1907, and the Kingsway Theatre from 1907 to 1941) was a London theatre. It opened in 1882 at No 8 Great Queen Street . The theatre was accessed from Little Queen Street until 1905 and from the new Kingsway road from 1905 onwards. It hosted the London premiere of A Doll's House in 1889. The theatre closed in 1941,
70-649: A prep school at Riber Castle in Derbyshire before going to Harrow (1918-1922) and the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London , where he gained a bachelor's degree. After graduation Summerson worked in several junior roles, most notably in the office of Sir Giles Gilbert Scott , but architectural practice was not for him and he became a tutor at the Edinburgh College of Art , School of Architecture in 1929. Hired by
105-541: A discipline for London's streets which was to endure for two hundred years." In 1710, the Great Queen Street Academy was founded here with Godfrey Kneller as its first governor. A major redevelopment in the early 1900s led to the building of the broad Kingsway road, clearing away some of the maze of small streets in Holborn including part of Great Queen Street, all of Little Queen Street and
140-450: A forty-foot frontage, on the south side of the street. Although he did not build all the houses himself, selling on some the plots, they were constructed to a uniform design, in a classical style, with Ionic pilasters rising through two storeys from the first floor to the eaves. The regular design of the houses proved influential. According to John Summerson they "laid down the canon which put an end to gabled individualism, and provided
175-804: A member of the Society of Antiquaries who took on William Blake as an apprentice in 1772 for seven years. The novelist R H Barham (aka Thomas Ingoldsby) lived at No 51 between 1821 and 1824 after gaining a minor canonry at London's St. Paul's Cathedral , where he served as a cardinal . Playwright, writer and politician Richard Brinsley Sheridan lived at No 55/56 between 1770 and 1790. James Boswell , lawyer, diarist and author, lived at 56–58 from 1786 until 1788. Actress, songster and star comedienne of British playhouse entertainment Kitty Clive lived at No 59 between 1743 and 1747. Artist John Opie lived at No 63 between 1783 and 1791 and painted The Schoolmistress there in 1784. At No 67 there
210-662: A performance of Frank Harvey 's melodrama, Sins of the Night . The Merchant of Venice was presented at the theatre in 1897. Its interior was rebuilt in 1898–1900 and 1907, reopening after the two reconstructions as the Great Queen Street Theatre (1900–1907) and Kingsway Theatre (1907–1941) respectively. From 1900 to 1907, W. S. Penley managed the theatre, producing and starring in A Little Ray of Sunshine by Mark Ambient and revivals of The Private Secretary and Charley's Aunt in 1900. It also featured
245-411: A style influenced by Byzantine and Moorish architecture and applied mainly to warehouses, factories, and other industrial buildings in the city of Bristol , is thought to have been invented by Summerson. He invented the term " prodigy house " for showy Elizabethan and Jacobean courtier houses. He had many notable students including Phoebe Stanton . There are a number of portraits of Summerson in
280-481: Is an introduction to the stylistic elements of classical architecture and traces their use and variation in different eras. He also wrote many more specialised works, including books about Inigo Jones and Georgian London (1945) illustrated by Alison Sleigh , as well as The Architecture of the Eighteenth Century (1986), in which he describes Boullée in a distinct positive manner, stating that Boullée
315-753: Is another shop where Masonic regalia is sold. At 30–31 is the Royal Masonic Trust for Girls and Boys, a charity that provides for the education of orphaned children of Masons. From 1882 to 1959, the Novelty Theatre (later renamed the Great Queen Street Theatre and the Kingsway Theatre) was at 8 Great Queen Street. It staged the English première of Ibsen ’s A Doll’s House in June 1889. At 31 Great Queen Street lived James Basire ,
350-592: The Blitz and remained closed until its demolition in 1959. Its site is now occupied by an extension of Newton Street into Great Queen Street, and an office block. Great Queen Street Great Queen Street is a street in the West End of central London in England . It is a continuation of Long Acre from Drury Lane to Kingsway . It runs from 1 to 44 along the north side, east to west, and 45 to about 80 along
385-498: The Modern Architectural Research Group (MARS), a think tank founded by a group of modernist architects, he settled back in London, moving on to a job as an assistant editor for the magazine Architect and Building News in 1934. Following the unsuccessful attempts to become a practising architect, and greater success as an architectural journalist, Summerson embarked on his first book, a biography of
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#1732775559100420-610: The 1,000 seat Grand Temple, which, with the Library and Museum are open to the public with hourly guided tours. The Masonic Charitable Foundation (MCF) is also located in Freemasons' Hall. The MCF comprises four former charities: The Freemasons' Grand Charity, a grant-making charity, the Royal Masonic Benevolent Institution (RMBI), which operated 17 care homes for Freemasons and their dependents,
455-402: The 1915 premiere of Pearn and Elgar 's The Starlight Express and the London premiere of the musical Oh, Boy! in 1919, which ran for 167 performances. In 1934 Winifred Carter 's historical play The Queen Who Kept Her Head appeared at the theatre. In 1939 it hosted the premiere of Rutland Boughton 's third symphony and finally closed on 11 May 1941. It was heavily bomb-damaged during
490-607: The Regiment played at the theatre in 1884. The Blue Bells of Scotland , by Robert Williams Buchanan , premiered at the theatre in 1887, followed by James Mortimer 's The Alderman and Fred Marsden's Bob , both in 1888. The Russian National Opera Company produced The Demon at the Novelty in 1888, and the theatre hosted the London premiere of Henrik Ibsen 's A Doll's House in 1889. In August 1896, Wilfred Moritz Franks accidentally stabbed Temple E. Crozier fatally onstage during
525-687: The Royal Masonic Trust for Boys and Girls, which provided education for the children of Freemasons; and the Masonic Samaritan Fund, providing medical care and support. The MCF took over the activities of the four charities in 2016. In 1775 the Freemasons' Tavern stood at 61–65, later the Connaught Rooms and now the Grand Connaught Rooms hotel and conference centre; like the hotel, the original Tavern
560-528: The architect John Nash (1752–1835). Published in 1935, it was "outstandingly successful". He continued to write mainly about British architecture, especially that of the Georgian era . His Architecture in Britain: 1530–1830 (1st edition 1953; many subsequent editions) remained a standard work on the subject for students and general readers after his death. The Classical Language of Architecture (1963)
595-610: The collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London ; one in oils by the artist Leonard Rosoman and the others by the photographers, Walter Stoneman , Walter Bird , Barry Beattie, and Stephen Hyde. Photographs attributed to Summerson are held in the Conway Library whose archive, of primarily architectural images, is being digitised under the wider Courtauld Connects project. In March 2012, an English Heritage blue plaque commemorating Summerson
630-462: The future George IV who was the Grand Master of the Freemasons in 1809. The north side of the road is also partly occupied by Masonic regalia shops, Masonic charities and administrative offices. At numbers 19–21 is the premises of the regalia manufacturer Toye, Kenning & Spencer , which has been located at this address since acquiring the rival manufacturer George Kenning in 1956. At 23
665-767: The history of Georgian architecture in London, Birkbeck, University of London and the Architectural Association and became a good friend of his student Roger Westman , who himself went on to become a noted architect. Summerson was noted for his somewhat elitist approach, and he was not always a consistent friend of the conservation movement. He was hired by the ESB in Ireland to speak in favour of their demolition of 16 Georgian townhouses in Fitzwilliam Street, Dublin . The doomed terrace, he said,
700-801: The organisation. He was also a Commissioner of the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England (RCHME) for 21 years from 1953 to 1974, writing the introduction to the book celebrating the NBR's fiftieth anniversary in 1991. He sat on many other public bodies and committees, including the Royal Fine Arts Commission (1947–54) and the Historic Buildings Council (1953–78) and was an early and active member of The Georgian Group that
735-640: The painter Richard Dadd lived in Great Queen Street while studying at the Royal Academy . Opposite Freemason's Hall was one of the "feature sites" for the Camden bench when it was first introduced. 51°30′56″N 0°07′16″W / 51.51556°N 0.12111°W / 51.51556; -0.12111 John Summerson Sir John Newenham Summerson CH CBE FBA FSA (25 November 1904 – 10 November 1992)
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#1732775559100770-530: The south side, west to east. The street straddles and connects the Covent Garden and Holborn districts and is in the London Borough of Camden . It is numbered B402. The street was called "Queen Street" from around 1605–9, and "Great Queen Street" from around 1670 to distinguish it from Little Queen Street. In 1646 William Newton was given permission to build fourteen large houses, each with
805-583: The space was more than just paving it was necessary to provide some seating. This was difficult in an area with a high crime and anti-social behaviour due to it being on the edge of the night time economy in Covent Garden and one block from a substance abuse hostel. Therefore, the project manager also wrote a brief to create the Camden bench to encourage walking and make this a social space, which subsequently won awards in designing out crime, simplifying street cleaning and inclusive design. By removing all
840-531: The street clutter from the junction it then became possible to see that when the Freemasons owned this end of Great Queen Street they faced the facades of all three building blocks in Portland stone . Roughly half of the south side is occupied by Freemasons' Hall , the headquarters of the United Grand Lodge of England . The first English Grand Lodge was founded in 1717, which explains the dates on
875-459: The surrounding slum dwellings. Plans were published by London County Council in 1898, authorised in 1899, and the road was formally opened in 1905. In about 2005 a local architect's practice won a competition to create a small, new square by redesigning the Great Queen Street junction with Drury Lane. The London Borough of Camden saw the potential of improving this junction as it was on their walking corridor between Leicester Square and Holborn. It
910-518: The top of the current building. Their first buildings on this site were replaced in 1860 by the architect Frederick Pepys Cockerell . However, this is the third Freemasons' Hall, which was built by international subscriptions in 1927–33 as a Masonic Peace Memorial after the Great War. It is a grade II listed building, and the only Art Deco building in London that is unaltered and still used for its original purpose. There are 29 meeting rooms and
945-768: Was "simply one damned house after another". Summerson was knighted in 1958; was awarded the Royal Gold Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1976; and was created a Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour in 1987. He was a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and elected a Fellow of the British Academy in 1954. The term Bristol Byzantine , referring to
980-561: Was a chapel from circa 1709, taken over by the Methodists in 1789 and expanded. This venue became West London Mission in 1906 and was renamed Kingsway Hall in 1907. But then the building was condemned due to the development of Kingsway. A new Kingsway Hall was built in 1912. Shanks and Co. ran their well-known coachbuilding business at 70–71 Great Queen Street from the 1850s, becoming F & R Shanks in 1860. The business moved out of Great Queen Street around 1905. The Shanks coachworks
1015-503: Was clearly the point of departure for one of the boldest innovators of the century, Claude Nicolas Ledoux . His 1945 book Georgian London was called "a masterpiece of British art history" by Simon Jenkins in a Sunday Times review of the 1988 edition. One of the founders of the National Buildings Record (NBR) in 1941, Summerson served as its deputy director yet also took to the streets taking photographs for
1050-483: Was founded in 1937. In 1945 Summerson was appointed Director and curator of Sir John Soane's Museum , a post he held until his retirement in 1984. He was Slade Professor of Fine Art at the University of Oxford for 1958–59 and Slade Professor at Cambridge University for the 1966-7 academic year. He gave the 1964 Master-Mind Lecture on Inigo Jones . Summerson lectured at The Courtauld Institute of Art on
1085-566: Was heavily damaged in the Blitz and was demolished in 1959. The first theatre on the site was built to designs by Thomas Verity with decorations by E. W. Bradwell, and opened on 9 December 1882. Its first show was the comic opera Melita or the Parsee's Daughter , composed by Henry Pontet, with a libretto by Juba Kennerley. It hosted, among other notable works, a revival of Les Cloches de Corneville and Ascot , by Percy Fendall, in 1883. Edward Solomon and James Mortimer's Polly or The Pet of
Novelty Theatre - Misplaced Pages Continue
1120-472: Was located in 'New Yard'; this land was sold to the Freemasons around 1920 to build the Freemasons' Hall. The orchestral music hire business Goodwin & Tabb was at 71 Great Queen Street from 1826 until 1906, when they moved to 34 Percy Street . At 72 is the Kingsway Hall Hotel, built on the site of Kingsway Hall and redeveloped into a four-star hotel in 1999. Between 1837 and 1840,
1155-642: Was one of the leading British architectural historians of the 20th century. John Summerson was born at Barnstead, Coniscliffe Road, Darlington . His grandfather worked for the Darlington and Stockton Railway and founded the family foundry of Thomas Summerson and Sons in Darlington in 1869. After the premature death of his father, Samuel James Summerson, in 1907, Summerson travelled extensively in England and Europe with his mother Dorothea and then attended
1190-545: Was realised that to make this the best space for walking the traffic signals should be designed out as they were more of a hindrance than a help to pedestrians. Thus the Great Queen Street scheme created the trend for traffic signal removal in the UK, which together with removing guard railings and lighting columns it set a new standard for decluttering. It was also the first scheme to explain how shared space works and can be designed, and how to make it inclusive. Then to ensure that
1225-579: Was used by the public as well as Freemasons for their receptions and dinners. There are conflicting stories about the founding in 1863 of the Football Association to set down the rules of the game. The existing pub " The Freemasons Arms " on Long Acre is sometimes said to be the site of this event, but other sources say it was the Freemason's Tavern. There is a pub called "The Prince of Wales" at 45 Great Queen Street, presumably named after
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