Citadel Arts Centre

Although the building was extensively altered when the Salvation Army took up occupation, it retains much of the character of an 1860s theatre and should be rated as an uncommon survival, worthy of further detailed research and physical investigation.

There was an Apollo Concert Room & Assembly Room on the Waterloo Street site, opened in 1858 by a Mr R Davies, in connection with his beer shop. The Apollo was succeeded by the Colosseum (whether or not a total rebuild is unclear) but this failed within two seasons and was purchased, with adjoining land in Milk Street, by Thomas Haddock, a solicitor. He commissioned a local architect, E Beattie, to build a new, larger theatre.

What is seen today appears to be an altered, but still surprisingly recognisable state, of Beattie’s theatre. A three-storey corner building, it is stuccoed on three faces, one flank only having some exposed brickwork. It comprises an entrance element, one bay deep, and a five-bay main body, which has a curious double-ridge roof, possibly, given that the two halves are not exactly symmetrical, the result of extending a pre-existing building. A close examination of the roof and ceiling construction might solve some of the building’s puzzles.

The elevations were elaborated by the Salvation Army, probably in 1904. The front and flank are channelled up to first floor level, the bay divisions on the flank being defined by plain pilasters rising from piers, with arched doors and windows between. The main front is framed by coupled, half-fluted pilasters and has a broad, plain gable. Some of the stucco façade ornament above ground floor level has gone, but the entrance doorway itself, is nicely detailed in mid-nineteenth century ‘pub classical’ style, rather closer to the design of the original music hall entrance than to the one shown on the Salvation Army drawings of 1904. It is set in a semi-circular two-storey arched recess (a feature of the 1862 design) with a window at first floor level and a blind window above. To the left is a two storey dwelling (reputedly built as the manager’s house), stuccoed in typical mid-nineteenth century manner, with a modern sliding door replacing the ground floor window.

The interior, despite the major alterations made by the Salvation Army still retains two horseshoe balconies and a strong sense of its former use. The alterations themselves now form part of an interesting record of historical change.

Update to follow relating to Lottery funded refurbishment project completed in 2000.