Queen's Hall

Queen’s Hall was once part of Twickenham’s first ‘Town Hall’ built in 1877. It was constructed as a public hall and was opened in 1881 by Princess Mary, Duchess of Teck. It was licensed for music and dance with theatrical facilities including a stage and dressing rooms. King Street was dramatically widened in the 1920’s with all of the buildings fronting the south side of King Street being swept away by road widening. This included the demolition of the front half of the Town Hall, leaving only the shell of the auditorium/hall at the rear of the site. A row of three storey purpose-built shops with upper level apartments were then constructed along the length of the south side of the road. The Hall now backs on to a rear lane way facing the derelict Twickenham Riverside Site. The approach along the lane is poor with single storey structures lining the north side of the road interspersed with car parking and refuse bins.

The Hall was initially used for theatre and dances, though saw less use after the Town Hall’s demolition. Post war, the Hall was occupied by a dance school, and is currently occupied by a martial arts and fitness centre.

Little of the original Queen’s Hall remains apart from the rectangular brick shell. It was constructed in solid brick ‘London Yellow’ stock with a bowing brick south wall elevation and corbel brick eaves. It has a corrugated crown pitch roof and is 12.5m high, taller than the buildings facing King Street. There are no windows on the east or south elevation and the original double height arched window openings on the west and north elevations have been boarded up. A corridor links the Hall to King Street, but there is an approximate 6m separation between the Hall and front buildings.

A later two storey red brick extension was built on the south side of the Hall extending out to the lane for storage, changing rooms and access to the lane.

Internally, the Hall was originally full height, though little original decoration remains. It has been separated horizontally into 3 sections, most probably post war. The top section in the rafters is accessed by an external ladder. The unused middle section was created by the installation of a false ceiling to create the lower section, currently used as the fitness studio. Wall panelling was also installed over the windows and the stage was filled in.

The Hall has been subject to a number of planning applications for refurbishment, conversion and subdivision of the Hall into residential apartments, retaining community use at the ground level; however all proposals have been refused or did not come to fruition.