Doncaster Grand Theatre.
This is my first report here.
I explored this place probably 5 years ago or more, but I never really took it in as it was rushed, nor did I have a camera at the time.
So having recently got back into exploring after quite a few years away I decided a revisit was in order.
Entry went well and having been in their an hour or so all was going well, until I heard a door go.. Oh dear I think, someone else is in here with me now.
Made all the worse due to the fact this was a solo explore.
Que me shouting, "Hello" "Who is it" and them frantically sending each other SOS on the torch. So I carried on anyway knowing we would probably bump into each at some point as the place isn't that big.
10 minutes later we did just that, luckily they turned out 2 decent chaps and turned out for the better.
Anyway I will stop talking now and share some somewhat under average photos.
Built on the site of a former Circus Hall, the Grand Theatre in Doncaster opened on 27th March 1899. The theatre stood in a prominent position facing Doncaster railway station and featured columns and arches on the frontage. Designed by by J P Briggs and built by local firm Arnold & Sons, it was one of the first theatres in the country to have electric lights.
The Doncaster Grand was constructed in 1899 and originally stood on a prominent site in a shopping street facing the main railway station. However, town centre improvements robbed it of any sensible context and it is no longer in a street, but attached rather indirectly to the Frenchgate shopping centre. It still faces the station, however is separated from it by a busy inner ring road which comes so close that it has actually snipped off a lower corner of the stage house. It was threatened with demolition until an energetic local campaign and Friends group secured statutory designation in 1994. The frontage, which, with an improved setting, could again become a local landmark, is three-storeyed. Baroque in treatment, with a complex rhythm of bays articulated by coupled and single pilasters and groupings of arched windows and doorways all rendered. There is a large broken segmental pediment over the three central bays with date 1899. It retains an intimate auditorium. Two well curved balconies with good plasterwork on fronts, the upper gallery is benched. Single pedimented and delicately decorated plasterwork boxes in otherwise plain side walls, flanking a decorative plasterwork rectangular-framed 7.9m (26ft) proscenium. More decorative drops to the ante-proscenium walls, bolection mouldings and plasterwork panels to the stalls and ceiling. Deep central oval ceiling dome. The Grand could quite readily be restored and reopened. It could offer amateur and community drama and musical productions, small scale touring and other activities to complement Doncaster's new venue, Cast.
View attachment
Anyway, if you have gotten this far thanks for looking and reading.
This is my first report here.
I explored this place probably 5 years ago or more, but I never really took it in as it was rushed, nor did I have a camera at the time.
So having recently got back into exploring after quite a few years away I decided a revisit was in order.
Entry went well and having been in their an hour or so all was going well, until I heard a door go.. Oh dear I think, someone else is in here with me now.
Made all the worse due to the fact this was a solo explore.
Que me shouting, "Hello" "Who is it" and them frantically sending each other SOS on the torch. So I carried on anyway knowing we would probably bump into each at some point as the place isn't that big.
10 minutes later we did just that, luckily they turned out 2 decent chaps and turned out for the better.
Anyway I will stop talking now and share some somewhat under average photos.
Built on the site of a former Circus Hall, the Grand Theatre in Doncaster opened on 27th March 1899. The theatre stood in a prominent position facing Doncaster railway station and featured columns and arches on the frontage. Designed by by J P Briggs and built by local firm Arnold & Sons, it was one of the first theatres in the country to have electric lights.
The Doncaster Grand was constructed in 1899 and originally stood on a prominent site in a shopping street facing the main railway station. However, town centre improvements robbed it of any sensible context and it is no longer in a street, but attached rather indirectly to the Frenchgate shopping centre. It still faces the station, however is separated from it by a busy inner ring road which comes so close that it has actually snipped off a lower corner of the stage house. It was threatened with demolition until an energetic local campaign and Friends group secured statutory designation in 1994. The frontage, which, with an improved setting, could again become a local landmark, is three-storeyed. Baroque in treatment, with a complex rhythm of bays articulated by coupled and single pilasters and groupings of arched windows and doorways all rendered. There is a large broken segmental pediment over the three central bays with date 1899. It retains an intimate auditorium. Two well curved balconies with good plasterwork on fronts, the upper gallery is benched. Single pedimented and delicately decorated plasterwork boxes in otherwise plain side walls, flanking a decorative plasterwork rectangular-framed 7.9m (26ft) proscenium. More decorative drops to the ante-proscenium walls, bolection mouldings and plasterwork panels to the stalls and ceiling. Deep central oval ceiling dome. The Grand could quite readily be restored and reopened. It could offer amateur and community drama and musical productions, small scale touring and other activities to complement Doncaster's new venue, Cast.
View attachment
Anyway, if you have gotten this far thanks for looking and reading.
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