Tottenham Palace

A large, relatively late variety theatre (but perhaps never the capacity of 3000, including standing, quoted in the Stage Year Book). Capacity if reseated to modern standards likely to be 1500 to 1800. Restrained symmetrical entrance façade in red brick and stone; a well-considered composition with Ionic pilasters and pediments. The Ionic theme is carried consistently through the foyer and auditorium.

Auditorium with two balconies; good plaster decoration; impressive three-bay loggia on either side at dress circle level, containing two boxes, the centre bay with a broken segmental pediment, the boxes now looking rather naked without their drapes. Gilded figures of Muses in niches flanking the proscenium. The building has been cared for and the conversion to bingo (principally the introduction of a stepped level floor in the stalls) was achieved with no significant architectural loss. In 1997, conversion to a church was proposed.

Now the only complete example in London of a theatre by the architects who rebuilt the Oxford Music Hall in 1893 (dem), built the Bath Palace of Varieties 1895, reconstructed the Blackpool Winter Gardens auditorium 1897, designed the first Brixton Empress of 1898 (dem) and reconstructed the interior of the London Pavilion 1900 (gutted). One of the few surviving big suburban variety palaces (compare Hackney Empire) and, given a fair wind, a perfectly recoverable theatre. In 2018 the church that owns the building is no longer able to support the repair work needed and the building is deteriorating.