Description

The following building shall be added:-
BOURNEMOUTH

SZ1191 CHRISTCHURCH ROAD,
Boscombe
768-0/22/10021 (North side)
Nos.568 -578 (Even)

Boscombe Hippodrome [Royal
Ballrooms]

GV II
Theatre. 1893-5, Lawson and Donkin for Archibald Beckett; altered in circa 1908. Red brick
with stone dressings; slate roofs. PLAN: Built as part of a development that included the
adjacent Royal Arcade [qv] and The Salisbury Hotel [demolished 1965]. Behind shops on
Christchurch Road there is a foyer, stairs and billiard hall over the shops and a large
auditorium with two U-shaped balconies, the lower of which has a promenade running
behind Dutch Renaissance style. EXTERIOR: South front facing Christchurch Road; 2
storeys. Ground storey shops with later fascias applied and central theatre entrance with
canopy. 2:3 bays above divided by pilasters and cornices and with tall plastered windows and
Dutch gables with urns and balustrade parapets between; the left 2 bays have 3-light
mullion-transom windows with segmental heads and carved stone panels and small attic
windows above; the right 3 bays have 3 tall mullion-transom windows with round heads,
the centre one foiled. INTERIOR: An unusual auditorium with the character of an earlier
music hall. Around the stalls is a shallow U-shaped balcony carried on iron columns with a
semi-circular end and straight sides, the balcony front an openwork iron balustrade with
acanthus leaf decoration. Tall thin iron columns rise from the front of the balcony to support
the ceiling with decorated openwork iron spandrels. A wide promenade runs around the
back of the balcony. Above the promenade, supported on another ring of columns, is a
second shallower balcony set back behind the arcade. The bench seating in the balconies
survives but the stall seats have been removed. The balconies originally ran straight up to the
proscenium wall, but in circa 1908 paired boxes were installed on either side in Baroque
plasterwork and the proscenium was rebuilt. From the foyer at the front staircases with
cast-iron balusters give access to the balconies and the large billiard hall over the shops.
SOURCES: Brereton,C. Curtains [inventory], published 1982. Mate,C.H. and Riddle,C.
Bournemouth 1810-1910 pp 155 and 212 Popham, D. and R. The Book of Bournemouth,
pp 84 and 108. Young, D. The Storey of Bournemouth, pp 149-150.

Listing NGR: SZ1139991910

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• O2 Academy Bournemouth at Wikipedia
• O2 Academy Bournemouth official website
• Wikidata Q7072249

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

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