Mark Price was asked to provide a Heritage Statement for the Lyric Theatre in London’s West End.
The Lyric Theatre opened in 1888. It is a Grade II Listed Building within the Soho Conservation Area in the City of Westminster.
The theatre was designed by C J Phipps. The façade was of the Renaissance style in red brick and Portland stone. Curiously, it also retained an existing 1776 façade block to Great Windmill Street which was converted to dressing rooms. The auditorium was in the French Renaissance style. The foyers and bars were similarly decorated in the French Renaissance and early Dutch fashion, later fitted out to designs by the architect, Michael Rosenauer (1933), in the Art Deco style.
The Lyric Theatre stands upon ground which had been acquired by the Metropolitan Board of Works for the formation of Shaftesbury Avenue. The producer, Henry J. Leslie, acquired the site from the Board with the profits that he had made from staging the Benjamin Charles Stephenson and Alfred Cellier comic opera Dorothy. The Lyric Theatre initially staged mostly light operettas when it first opened before subsequently staging light comedies and straight drama.
A Heritage Statement was required by NIMAX Theatres Ltd to support a refurbishment scheme to upgrade the bars and stagehouse.
Mark Price was able to provide a comprehensive Statement of Significance not only supporting the renovation, but justifying new interventions within the bars, making the theatre fit-for-purpose. He was also able to source original plans and photographs to assist an understanding of the original design and finishes.
