Building
The Gothic revival style building was originally a fire station, built in 1881. It retains much of that original character, for example it is the only fire Station for horse-drawn tenders which still has the look-out tower and doors still in place. The building should always retain its historic features as the frontage of the building is Grade II listed. It had a short history as a fire station as it was built for horse-drawn fire engines and the new motorised appliances were too big for the doors, which could not be extended. The area behind these doors, where the appliances and horses were kept, is now the Bell Theatre stage. Between its life as a fire station and its current one as a theatre, the building was used as a hall for the local church and also as an illegal boxing venue.
The design for the conversion to a theatre was by Owen Luder (later to become President of the Royal Institute of British Architects on two occasions and a well-known Dulwich personality), the original design for the building was probably designed by Richard Pearsall, in the Metropolitan Board of Works Architect's Department.
Like all old buildings, the theatre requires a lot of maintenance and a renovation is planned which should make the building fully accessible and able to accept performances from external theatre companies.
For those interested at simply looking around the building, it does tours for a weekend in September as part of Open House London.
Read more about this topic: South London Theatre
Famous quotes containing the word building:
“Nowadays almost all man’s improvements, so called, as the building of houses and the cutting down of the forest and of all large trees, simply deform the landscape, and make it more and more tame and cheap.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“A building is akin to dogma; it is insolent, like dogma. Whether or no it is permanent, it claims permanence, like a dogma. People ask why we have no typical architecture of the modern world, like impressionism in painting. Surely it is obviously because we have not enough dogmas; we cannot bear to see anything in the sky that is solid and enduring, anything in the sky that does not change like the clouds of the sky.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“The artist must be an egotist because, like the spider, he draws all his building material from his own breast. But just the same the artist alone among men knows what true humility means. His reach forever exceeds his grasp. He can never be satisfied with his work. He knows when he has done well, but he knows he has never attained his dream. He knows he never can.”
—Rheta Childe Dorr (1866–1948)