Alhambra Theatre 1874
The Caverns of Ice at the Alhambra, Leicester-Square. Illustration for The Illustrated London News, 3 August 1867
c. 1870-82?
Canteen at Alhambra Theatre
Fire of Alhambra Theatre 1882
c. 1897 Interior of Alhambra Theatre
Leicester Square, the Alhambra Theatre, from the Gardens. Photograph from Round London (George Newnes, 1896).
1898 illustrated programme of Alhambra
c. 1906 (coloured) picture
Black and white postcard showing the façade of the Alhambra Theatre, within a streetscape of Leicester Square in London. It is a symmetrical façade in three major bays, with a second floor balcony on each outer bay. A long canopy stretches the breadth of the building over various doorways and signage at street-level. The name ALHAMBRA appears on a large sign high up on the central bay.
Visits to London’s music halls provided subject and inspiration for many of Spencer Gore’s paintings. He frequently haunted the Alhambra Theatre of Varieties in Leicester Square, the setting of this picture. Here Inez and Taki, possibly a Spanish double act, play nineteenth-century lyre guitars at stage right. 1910
National fund for the Welsh troops. Grand Matinee, St. David's day, March 1st, at the Alhambra, Leicester Square, W. Poster showing a soldier from behind, as he faces a bright light on the horizon, possibly an explosion or dawn. Date 1915.
Front of Alhambra Theatre c.1936
The Alhambra Theatre[]
- The Royal Panopticon of Science and Art close in 1856 and become the Alhambra Theatre. In 1858 the circus ring was installed
- The fire in 1882 gutted the building but left the exterior masonry and part of the internal structure standing. The rather less spectacularly decorated reconstruction was again Moorish in character, retaining original columns and arches but bringing the auditorium into a more theatrical appearance with lyre-curved tiers.
- There are impressionist paintings by Spencer Gore, who attended shows in Alhambra
- History of the theatre in article http://www.arthurlloyd.co.uk/Alhambra.htm
The building was demolished in 1936.