Description

TA 3008 NE CLEETHORPES ALEXANDRA ROAD (west side)

8/27 The Empire (No's 49-52)

GV II

Theatre, now amusement arcade. 1896, enlarged and refurbished 1900; unsympathetic later C2O alterations. Red brick in Flemish bond with sandstone ashlar dressings, colourwashed. Welsh slate roof. Timber arcade, iron balcony. Rectangular on plan, with rear entrance to Dolphin Street. Main front to Alexandra Road: 3 storeys, 7 bays; symmetrical. Full length ground-floor pavement arcade (largely rebuilt in C2O) carrying first-floor balcony. Plain wooden piers and basket arches, plain Caa balcony railings. Ground floor front retains central basket-arched chamfered entrance with alternating plan and moulded ashlar voussoirs, foliate keystone; flanking sections remodelled cl97O. Upper floors retain original details: projecting octagonal buttresses at left and right angles and flanking central gabled bay, pilaster buttresses between side bays. First floor: full-length windows with C20 blocking or inserted glazing beneath original ornate ashlar lintels with panelled friezes, foliate consoles and scrolled pediments. Flush ashlar band at lintel level, with foliate relief panels to buttresses. Raised moulded name plaque above central first-floor window. Second floor: central round-headed window with delicate radial glazing bars, moulded capitals, archivolt and fluted pedimented keystone flanked by ashlar stringcourse. Side bays have windows with moulded sills, moulded lintels with consoles and flat hoods; flush ashlar band at lintel level, with foliate relief panels to buttresses. Moulded ashlar stringcourse, dentilled brick frieze and moulded eaves cornice. The octagonal buttresses at each end and flanking the central gable project as short turrets with ornate onion domes and miniature cupolas with finials. Central coped shaped gable has moulded slit light, stringcourse and segmental pediment with shell moulding and ball finial. Moulded brick-coped gables. Pair of axial stacks and pair of end stacks with moulded stringcourses. Right return bears remains of painted inscription "THE EMPIRE". Rear to Dolphin Street has 3 storey, 6-bay section with recessed outer bays flanking 2 central bays, 5 segmental-arched basement windows, door to right beneath segmental arch, 4 second-floor sashes, hipped roof. Interior. Ground floor largely stripped or obscured by later partitions: stage boarded-in. Stairhall and gallery entrances have original staircases, basket-arched openings on moulded capitals, plaster panelling to walls with Adam-style plasterwork friezes and ornate moulded ceilings. Auditorium has full gallery around 3 sides, the side ranges with arcades of square timber columns with moulded arch braces to hammer beams carrying basket-arched roof trusses and a boarded upper ceiling with ornate cast-iron ventilator grilles. Ornate gilt carved wood and plasterwork proscenium arch: fluted Composite pilasters, with tapered Ionic pilasters above, flanking a wide basket arch with foliate and ribbed mouldings and foliate spandrels beneath a moulded cornice. The lower section of the stage arch removed or obscured at time of resurvey. Not fully investigated. Built at a cost of dl4,5Da and opened in May 1896 as the Alexandra Hall Theatre. Refurbished by M. Auguste Van Biene in 1900 to become the Empire Theatre. Closed as a theatre in 1960. Formed part of the well-established national seaside resorts entertainments circuit, and still retains much of its early C20 character. M Hart, Cleethorpes and the Meggies, 1981, pp 10, 41, 42.

Listing NGR: TA3065508858

External Links

• Wikidata Q33083964

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Recommended Books

• 
  For the Record
• 
  Kent: West and the Weald: The Buildings of England (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Listed Buildings: The Law and Practice of Historic Buildings, Ancient Monuments and Conservation Areas
• 
  Old House Handbook: A Practical Guide to Care and Repair by Hunt. Roger ( 2008 ) Hardcover
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects by Harwood, Richard (2012) Paperback
• 
  Old House Care and Repair