Roundhouse (venue) - History

History

The Roundhouse was built in 1846 as a turntable engine shed (or roundhouse) for the London and Birmingham Railway, and was known as the Great Circular Engine House, or the Luggage Engine House. The original building was built by Branson & Gwyther, using designs by architects Robert B. Dockray and Robert Stephenson. Within ten years locomotives became too long for the building to accommodate, and the Roundhouse was used for various other purposes. The longest period of use was as a bonded store for Gin distillers W & A Gilbey Ltd, for which the building was used for fifty years, from 1871. In 1964 the premises were transferred to Centre 42, which prepared a scheme to convert the building into "a permanent cultural centre with a theatre, cinema, art gallery and workshops, committee rooms for local organisations, library, youth club and restaurant dance-hall". This was estimated to cost between £300,000 and £600,000 (£4.5 million–9.1 million as of 2012), and was supported by "well-known actors, playwrights, authors, musicians and others". In 1966 the Roundhouse became a well-known arts venue, after the freehold was taken up by the then new Greater London Council. On 15 October 1966 Soft Machine and Pink Floyd appeared at the launch of the underground news paper International Times. During the next decade the building became an important venue for UK Underground music events Middle Earth and Implosion. Many of these were hosted and promoted by the Jeff Dexter. Others bands who played at the Roundhouse during this period included Gass, The Rolling Stones, Jeff Beck, The Yardbirds, Zoot Money's Dantalian's Chariot, David Bowie, The Sinceros, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, Incredible String Band, The Doors with Jefferson Airplane, Ramones, The Clash, Elkie Brooks, and Motörhead who appeared at the Roundhouse on 20 July 1975.

The building was used in 1996 during the filming of the promotional video for the Manic Street Preachers single "A Design For Life" prior to the start of redevelopment. Promotional videos for the singles "Handbags and Gladrags" by Stereophonics and "Burn Burn" by Lostprophets were also filmed there in 2001 and 2003 respectively.

The Roundhouse has also been used for theatre, and has had two periods of theatrical glory, with musicals such as Catch My Soul (1969). Under the leadership of visionary producer Thelma Holt, the first phase also featured experimental theatre productions, such as the Living Theatre production of 1776 and other plays directed by Peter Brook. The lewd play Oh! Calcutta! opened in July 1970 and started a run of nearly four thousand performances in London.

The Greater London Council passed the building to Camden London Borough Council in 1983, and it was closed as a venue due to lack of funds. The building lay empty until it was purchased for £6m (£8.4 million as of 2012) in 1996 by the Norman Trust led by the philanthropist Torquil Norman. In 1998 he set up the Roundhouse Trust and led its redevelopment, with a board of trustees which included musicians Bob Geldof and Suggs, and Monty Python writer Terry Gilliam.

The venue opened for a two-year period to raise awareness and funds for a redevelopment scheme, under the directorship of former BAC director Paul Blackman. Shows promoted at this time included the Royal National Theatre's Oh, What a Lovely War!, dancer Michael Clark's comeback performance, percussion extravaganza Stomp, Ken Campbell's twenty-four hour long show The Warp and the Argentine De La Guarda's Villa Villa which ran for a year, becoming the longest-ever running show at The Roundhouse, ending when the venue closed for redevelopment.

The website dance.com, commenting on the redevelopment project, said:

The renovated Roundhouse, designed by architects John McAslan & Partners in association with engineering company Buro Happold, reopened on 1 June 2006, promoting Fuerzabruta. Since 1996 the renovations had cost £27m (£38 million as of 2012).

In 2008, Michael Boyd, artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, transferred his RSC Histories Cycle to the Roundhouse, rearranging the performing space to match the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford upon Avon, where the cycle had first been staged.

On 31 March 2009, the charitable circus group No Fit State began a run of performances of Tabu, utilising the open space at the Roundhouse. On 26 April 2009 Bob Dylan and his band performed at the Roundhouse, whilst on a UK tour, and in July 2009 the iTunes Music Festival (supported by Apple Computer) was held at the venue.

In 2010, the Roundhouse introduced contemporary classical music to its events repertoire when it hosted the Reverb festival in January of that year, which included performances by the London Contemporary Orchestra, the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, The Magnets, Nico Muhly, Sam Amidon and the Britten Sinfonia.

A bar and dining room called 'Made in Camden' with its own entrance was added.

In May 2012, the Roundhouse announced that Fuerzabruta would return for a limited four-week run in December.