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27-632: The Scala Theatre was a theatre in Charlotte Street , London, off Tottenham Court Road . The first theatre on the site opened in 1772; the last was demolished in 1969, after a catastrophic fire. From 1865 to 1882, the theatre was known as the Prince of Wales's Theatre (not to be confused with Prince of Wales Theatre ). The theatre began on this site as The New Rooms where concerts were performed, in Charlotte Street, in 1772, under

54-519: A minor adjustment to that boundary around 1900 now means that a small part of the boundary separating the London Borough of Camden and the City of Westminster runs along a short section of Charlotte Street. The nearest tube station is Goodge Street to the east. Goodge Street itself crosses Charlotte Street halfway up. To the east and parallel with Charlotte Street is Tottenham Court Road . To

81-547: A while the theatre became home to the Gang Show . During World War II , it again housed professional theatre, reverting to the Scala Theatre . After the war, under the management of Prince Littler , amateur productions returned, with Peter Pan being the annual pantomime. This continued until 1969 when, after a fire, it was demolished for the building of offices, known as Scala House (25 Tottenham Street). In 1964,

108-616: The German Gymnasium (now a restaurant) survives as a legacy. The parish and borough boundaries of St Pancras (now part of the London Borough of Camden ) and the parish and borough of Marylebone ran through the area, mostly along Cleveland Street ; these ancient boundaries, which are many centuries old, have been inherited by the modern boroughs. Charlotte Street (and Charlotte Place) were wholly in St Pancras, but

135-776: The Great War , it is claimed that he was the Intelligence Department 's Director of Kinematography. In fact Sir William F. Jury held the post. Maddick did indeed work for MI7 and liaised with the French Intelligence Bureau, promoted captain for this task. Maddick claimed to have ‘produced all the films up to and including the Battle of the Somme’, and to have been ‘on land and at sea under enemy fire; as well as in aeroplanes and airships’. Probably

162-507: The West London Theatre (1820–1831), Queen's Theatre (1831–1833, 1835–1837, and 1839–1865), and Fitzroy Theatre (1833–1835). The lessee of the theatre from 1839 to 1865 was a scenic artist, Charles James James, and the theatre became the home of lurid melodrama , being nicknamed The Dusthole . In 1865, the theatre was renovated and named the Prince of Wales's Royal Theatre and this continued until it went dark in 1882. It

189-485: The 1920s to the mid-1950s as a meeting place for artists , intellectuals and bohemians , including Dylan Thomas , Lawrence Durrell , Augustus John , and George Orwell . The original Channel 4 television headquarters was at 60 Charlotte Street, before the channel moved to 124 Horseferry Road in 1994. The commercial radio station Xfm London originally had its studios in Charlotte Street before moving to Leicester Square . Gennaro Contaldo 's restaurant Passione

216-477: The Charlotte Street that has since been renamed Bloomsbury Street.) The Scala Theatre , opened in 1905, was located on Charlotte Street. A theatre first stood on the site in 1772. From 1865 to 1882, the theatre was known as the Prince of Wales's Theatre. It was demolished in 1969, after being destroyed by a fire. The Fitzroy Tavern at 16 Charlotte Street was built as a coffeehouse in 1883. It became famous during

243-527: The Knife (a success in 1865) and A Hundred Thousand Pounds (1866). By 1867, Byron left the partnership. The house soon became noted for the successful domestic drama-comedies by Thomas William Robertson , including his series of groundbreaking realist plays, Society (1865), Ours (1866), Caste (1867), Play (1868), School (1869), and M.P. (1870). In 1867, Wilton married Squire Bancroft and took his surname as Mrs. Effie Bancroft and regularly took

270-532: The building and named it the Cognoscenti Theatre (1802–1808). It became the New Theatre (1808–1815) and was extended and fitted out as a public theatre, with a portico entrance on Tottenham Street. It opened on 23 April 1810 with Love in a Village . It continued under a succession of managers as the unsuccessful Regency Theatre (1815–1820), falling into decline. The theatre then reopened as

297-530: The former Odeon King's Cross cinema in Pentonville Road was renamed Scala Cinema. Charlotte Street Charlotte Street is a street in Fitzrovia , historically part of the parish and borough of St Pancras , in central London . It has been described, together with its northern and southern extensions (Fitzroy Street and Rathbone Place), as the spine of Fitzrovia . The southern half of

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324-520: The management of Francis Pasquali. Popularity, and royal patronage led to the building's enlargement by James Wyatt , and its renaming as the King's Concert Rooms (1780–1786). It then became Rooms for Concerts of Ancient Music and Hyde's Rooms (1786–1802), managed by The Directors of Concerts and Ancient Music . In 1802, a private theatre club managed by Captain Caulfield, the "Pic-Nics" , occupied

351-660: The most notable production was the film The Battle of the Somme , released just a month after the first battle started in July 1916. He was then 'loaned' to the Admiralty advising on film matters, and in 1918 was made an Equipment Officer in the RAF , producing training films. The Scala was used for showing films for censorship, and after the War he used the cinema to teach human anatomy. He

378-527: The name Prince of Wales Theatre in 1886. In 1903, Dr. Edmund Distin Maddick bought the property, and adjoining properties, and enlarged the site. The main entrance was now in Charlotte Street, and the old portico in Tottenham Street became the stage door. The new theatre, designed by Frank Verity , opened in 1905, as The Scala Theatre , seating 1,139 and boasting a large stage. The new venture

405-415: The parish and borough of St Pancras was home to a large, mostly middle-class, German population . Charlotte Street and the surrounding locality was a thriving centre of this community, and the street acquired the nickname Charlottenstrasse , after its famous Berlin namesake. Other areas of St Pancras which had a large German community included Camden Town , Kentish Town and nearby Kings Cross , where

432-477: The principal female parts in these pieces opposite her husband. Other plays were W. S. Gilbert 's Allow Me To Explain (1867; this ran as a companion piece to Robertson's Caste ) and Sweethearts (1874), as well as Tame Cats (1868), Lytton's Money (1872), The School for Scandal (1874), a revival of Boucicault's London Assurance (1877), and Diplomacy ( Clement Scott 's 1878 adaptation of Sardou 's Dora ). A number of prominent actors played at

459-633: The south is Oxford Street . The street has a mix of eighteenth-, nineteenth- and twentieth-century buildings and has reputation for its numerous restaurants serving a wide range of cuisine. Sass's Academy , an important art school founded in the early 19th century by Henry Sass , was located in a house at 6 Charlotte Street, on the corner with Streatham Street . Many notable British artists such as William Powell Frith , John Millais , Charles West Cope , William Edward Frost and Dante Gabriel Rossetti received their early training there. In 1842 its management passed to Francis Stephen Cary . (This refers to

486-568: The street has many restaurants and cafes, and a lively nightlife; the northern part is more mixed in character, and includes the large office building of the advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi , and a University College London student hall of residence, Astor College. The street has a significant residential population living above the ground floor. It gives its name to two architectural Conservation Areas: Charlotte Street conservation area (Camden) and Charlotte Street West conservation area (City of Westminster) Charlotte Street, formed in 1763,

513-575: The theatre during this period, among them John Hare , Charles Coghlan , the Kendals , and Ellen Terry . A big success in 1881 was F. C. Burnand 's The Colonel , which went on to run for 550 performances, transferring to the Imperial Theatre. In 1882, the theatre went dark, and from 1886 the theatre buildings were used as a Salvation Army Hostel, until it was demolished in 1903. Another theatre near Leicester Square, London, began to use

540-625: The theatre was used by The Beatles for the concert sequences in the film A Hard Day's Night . The Other Cinema opened in October 1976 in the basement of Scala House; it showed avant-garde films and closed in February 1977. The premises reopened as Scala Cinema in June 1978. It showed a daily programme of films. In 1980, the Scala House was taken over by Channel 4 television, and in 1981

567-717: Was also a surgeon to the Italian Hospital in London and was a Knight to the Crown of Italy . He married Violet Emily Caroline Byng, and their son Major Edmund Cecil Strafford Byng Maddick served in the First World War in the Royal Artillery. Abandoning medicine in his 40s, he took over and rebuilt the Scala Theatre in 1905 and when it failed as a theatre, fitted it out in 1911 for a Kinematograph . During

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594-668: Was an English surgeon and pioneer of cinema . Born in Clerkenwell on 11 April 1857 and studying medicine at St Thomas' Hospital , Maddick became a doctor and later a surgeon in the Royal Navy . Although it is claimed he achieved the rank of Admiral (Surgeon) of the Fleet , having resigned after 11 months as a naval surgeon he in fact became an Honorary Surgeon to the London Brigade of Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers. He

621-812: Was at 10 Charlotte Street between 1999 and March 2009. The Charlotte Street Hotel is a boutique hotel that opened at 15 Charlotte Street in 2000, its interiors decorated with modern British art. The Charlotte Street Gallery is at 28 Charlotte Street. The family home of Christina Rossetti and Dante Gabriel Rossetti , associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood , were at 38 Charlotte Street (now 105 Hallam Street) and later at 50 Charlotte Street. 51°31′11″N 0°08′09″W  /  51.51959°N 0.13591°W  / 51.51959; -0.13591 Edmund Distin Maddick Edmund Distin Maddick (1857–1939)

648-532: Was demolished in 1903. In 1865, in partnership with Henry Byron , Marie Wilton assumed the management of the theatre, having secured as a leading actor Squire Bancroft . He starred in J. P. Wooler's A Winning Hazard , among other works. Wilton provided the capital, and Byron wrote a number of plays. His first was a burlesque of La sonnambula . However, Wilton wanted to present more sophisticated pieces. She agreed to produce three more burlesques by Byron, while he agreed to write his first prose comedies, War to

675-486: Was named in honour of Queen Charlotte who married King George III in 1761. Together with Charlotte Place (previously Little Charlotte Street ), it was one of four streets in and around Fitzrovia which took her name. The other two have since been renamed Hallam Street and Bloomsbury Street. Fitzrovia itself was named after the Fitzroy Tavern , a public house on Charlotte Street. From the 19th century onward,

702-477: Was not particularly successful and became a cinema, from 1911 to 1918, run by Charles Urban , who regularly showed Kinemacolor films there. In 1918, F. J. Nettlefold took over and ran the premises as a theatre again. It became known as the New Scala in 1923, with D. A. Abrahams as licensee for staging plays and showing films; he became owner in 1925. Amateur productions and pantomimes were performed, and for

729-553: Was well-connected and well known in British and Italian Royal circles. The Tory Government offered him a baronetcy in 1925, but the General Election intervened and Ramsay MacDonald 's Labour Party reduced this offer to a knighthood. Insulted, Maddick turned this down and eventually accepted a CBE in 1927. He constructed an unusual mausoleum at West Norwood Cemetery approximately ten years before he died. The building

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