The New Hippodrome Hale Street Coventry

The Coventry Hippodrome Theatre in Hales Street, was the third theatre in the city to have that name. The first was situated close by in Pool Meadow and opened in 1884. The second theatre stood adjacent to the third Hippodrome also in Hales Street, opening in 1906 and demolished following the opening of the new building.

Construction of the ‘New Hippodrome Theatre’ commenced in December 1936. Seating was provided for 1,014 in the stalls, 640 in the dress circle and 462 in the upper circle and 20 in the two boxes located each side of the proscenium. The proscenium was 50 feet wide, the stage 39 feet deep and there were twelve dressing rooms. Designed by Duncan Kaye, of Hattrell and Wortley, the new theatre was officially opened in November 1937. Used as a Bingo Hall for many years, the building was demolished in 2002.

There were originally three nude classical figures above the windows above the main entrance of this Art Deco building. The right and left hand figures were both female, the one on the left having long flowing hair and the one on the right holding her hair up with her left hand and holding a piece of drapery in her right. The central male figure had both arms raised and was shown playing the cymbals. The figures disappeared in 1971.

COVENTRY The Coventry Hippodrome Company Limited, Hale Street, propose the re-building of their cinema on Chauntry-place. Messrs Hattrell & Wortley L/LRIBA, 1 Queens Road are the architects. [Builder 19 June 1936 page 1241]

Coventry will have one of the most up‑to‑date theatres in the country when the new Hippodrome is completed.  In several respects the theatre will be actually in advance of anything to be found elsewhere. Construction of the theatre is also of importance because it will be possible to stage bigger and better shows. Spaciousness with intimacy and comfort is the keynote of the design. There will be seating for 2,000 people. This is 500 more than in the existing theatre and the additional number is divided between the ground floor, where there will be 900 seats, and the circle, where there will be 650. Balcony seats will remain at approximately 500. There will be a good deal more room between rows of seats, which will be of the same tip-up type in all parts of the building, and from any of which an uninterrupted view of the stage will be possible.

WIDTH DOUBLED - All this increased accommodation has been secured by doubling the width of the theatre as compared with the present Hippodrome. Consequently, the back seats of the new theatre will be little or no farther away from the stage than in the old, and the existing air of intimacy, so essential to real‑life shows, will be maintained. In consultation with Mr Hope-Bagenall, ARIBA, an acoustic expert who acted similarly in regard to the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre, Stratford‑on‑Avon, the theatre has been designed and planned to be (as) acoustically perfect as modern scientific knowledge will allow. Air‑conditioning will be on a principle new to Coventry, ensuring an absolutely pure atmosphere, while an even temperature will be maintained throughout the year and draught completely eliminated.

FIVE LARGE BARS - The design of the theatre provides for a great deal of space between the auditorium and the imposing exterior walls. This is to be taken up by five large bars three of which will be 40ft. in length,  three  large  and  comfortably furnished  lounge  foyers,  each with accommodation for several hundred people,  for stalls, circle and pit stalls, sound-proof window looking into the studio, will open off it.

VARIETY AND REVUE - For stage broadcasts, two BBC commentators’ rooms are being provided ‑ one on each side of the proscenium arch above the ‘perches’ (the spots from which limelights are operated in the present theatre). One will communicate with the engineer's room. When the theatre, which has been designed by Messrs. Hattrell and Worley FRIBA Coventry and is being built by Messrs E Harris and Son, of Coventry, is opened about September next, no change is to be made in the policy of providing variety and revue twice nightly up to   Christmas. Whether musical comedy is to be put on from time to time after that is not decided.

Commodious dressing rooms for 100 artists;  a large broadcasting room, a snack bar, a soda fountain, a milk bar and  offices.

Only the balcony patrons will have to queue up outside the theatre - and they will be under cover. Those requiring unreserved pit stalls will queue up in a special hall inside, while those with reserved seats, and all circle and stalls patrons will be able to wait in the foyers, lounges, or bars. Exits are to be so arranged that those leaving the theatre will not have to pass through the foyers.

BEST‑EQUIPPED STAGE - One of the finest features of the theatre will be the stage. This will be the largest and best‑equipped in the Midlands and one of the biggest outside London. It will be three times the size of the stage in the present theatre and thus be possible to present with the greatest ease the largest productions. The stage lighting will be of a most elaborate nature and will incorporate many new features, while a lamp room from which half a dozen arc lamps can be operated will be set up in the roof at the back of the theatre.

A novel feature in connection with the stage is the provision of a runway, sweeping round the auditorium side of the orchestra pit from one side of the stage to the other.  Its floor will be of thick glass, under which will be placed decorative lighting. Choruses or other artists will be able to make use of it.

COMFORT OF ARTISTS - Great attention is being paid to the comfort of artists. Stars' dressing rooms have private bathrooms, chorus rooms have been designed to facilitate change of costumes, and have shower baths adjoining, while all dressing rooms will be near the stage. It will be the first theatre to incorporate a broadcasting studio. This has been designed in consultation with the BBC, and will measure roughly 40 feet square.  It is intended for the use of the orchestra for their broadcasts. The musical director's room and library, and the BBC engineer's room. [MDT 15 January 1937]

THE ‘NEW’ HIPPODROME - An interesting study in crowd psychology was offered to those who passed Coventry Hippodrome on Monday night a short time before the commencement of the second house. The space between the theatre and the Fire Station was thronged with people as it had rarely been thronged before. Two very lengthy queues awaited admission, but the main object of interest was the mass of people staring vacantly towards the Hippodrome, which as a result of its recent redecoration,  presented a new frontal appearance. But the number of persons standing there was more than sufficient to fill the theatre, A few of them, undoubtedly were waiting to take possession of booked seats, but why did the others remain there?  Perhaps they responded to the type of influence  exercised  by  the  smart, well dressed dummy which  stood  outside a tailor's shop and, with its head tilted slightly upwards,  engaged a  large  crowd  in sky‑gazing.   Or perhaps as the writer did, each person stood amused at his neighbour’s mentality,  and awaited to see how the crowd grew. Although the management of  the Hippodrome hardly expected  it to be as ‘hypnotic’ as it proved on  Monday, the exterior  of the  theatre has  been greatly improved in a short time.  In place of the old drab and rugged front, we now see a white stone facing with new ornaments and a system of floodlighting that should be especially striking when it provides a bold contrast  to the darkness of the sky on winter nights.

Structural alterations too have been completed. The battlements have now disappeared from the semi-circular tower which has been raised one storey to accommodate a high-class Foyer Bar, which has direct access from the Circle. The bar is furnished in modern style, in keeping with the general alterations of the interior, where a new system of subdued lighting has been installed. This lighting re-arrangement has been extended to the stage, where a sunrise effect can now be prolonged for half an hour instead of lasting for only a few minutes and developing in a series of jerks. From the theatre-goer’s point of view, however, the chief improvement is the re-seating of the ground floor, where occupants of the Pit now have bookable tip‑up  armchair seats  equal in comfort to the Stalls.

The new Foyer Bar was inaugurated on Friday evening last week, the event being attended by many  prominent citizens of  Coventry, including  the Mayor  and Members  of  the  City Council. In a short speech of welcome to the visitors, Alderman A. J. Halpin  (one of the Directors  of the  Hippodrome) explained the aims of the management. The  Mayor, (Alderman W. H. Batchelor) said that continued patronage had already proved that the Hippodrome  was  a comfortable  and popular music-hall, but the new improvements would make it even more so.   He congratulated the builders, Messrs E. Harris and Son, on their lightning alterations, and the architects, Messrs Hattrell and Wortley. Complimentary remarks were made by the Deputy Mayor (Alderman F. Lee), who said he could imagine the day when instead of Coventry people going to Birmingham to the theatre, Birmingham would come to Coventry.

For its re-opening this week the Hippodrome has provided its patrons with a very good variety programme, suggestive of the management’s stated policy of presenting a series of star attractions, including all the first-class artistes on tour. The orchestra has been augmented, and a new musical director, Mr Charles M Shannon has been appointed. Another new feature of the Hippodrome service is the magazine programme, believed to be the only one of its kind in the Provinces. Unlike similar publications at London theatres, it has all its literary matter written by a member of the staff.

Architect        Hattrell and Wortley L/LRIBA, 1 Queens Road, Coventry. Duncan Kaye FRIBA
Contractor     E Harris and Sons, Cape Street, Coventry
Foundations   Frankpile Foundations - Franki Compressed Pile Co Ltd, Windsor House Victoria Square London SW1
Interior dec    Bath Artcraft Limited, (the firm responsible for decor on the liner Queen Mary).
Opened         1 November 1937

Reference    Builder 19 June 1936 page 1241
Reference    Builder 18 December 1936 Page 1231- tenders
Reference    Builder 12 February 1937 Page 399
Reference    Coventry Telegraph 13 May 2002 – demolition
Image         RIBA23434 Felton, Leo Herbert (d. 1968)