The huge Alexandra Palace appeared in north London in the 1870s as a "people's palace", an institution for the entertainment and education of the masses. In addition to the concert and banquet halls, galleries and a museum, a lecture hall and a library, there was also a roomy theater with the latest machinery, which, however, did not remain popular for long. Therefore, at the beginning of the 20th century, it was converted into a cinema, in the First World War it served as a hospital and a chapel, and in 1936, when the BBC launched the world's first regular television broadcast in Alexandra Palace, it was used as a warehouse for scenery and props. In the last 30 years, the theater has been abandoned and almost forgotten, although concerts and other cultural and entertainment events continue to be held in the palace itself.
Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios was commissioned in 2014 to convert this theater hall for its intended use. The architects decided that it was not worth restoring it to its “short period of greatness” at the end of the 19th century: it is more important to preserve traces of its complex “life”, which included alterations and slow decay - not to recreate, but to strengthen the building. All new additions are immediately recognized as belonging to our time, that is, they constitute another chapter in the history of the building.
The sloping floor of the hall has been replaced with a flat one - for modern productions, where the line between the audience and the performance is blurred. At the same time, the boards of the Victorian era were shifted, but in the end everything returned to its place. The structures for the placement of lighting and acoustic systems and the fixtures for the decorations are hidden behind a molded plafond, which has been carefully restored, but no losses have been restored. The walls also retained all traces of time. The balcony, however, was replaced with a new one with more vertical seating, which greatly improved the visibility of the stage.
The so-called Eastern Courtyard of the palace became the foyer of the theater, and during the day it serves as a cafe open to all and a place for meetings and communication. He received a new floor painted by artists from the Art + Believe studio with an area of 1000 m2.
The project covers an area of almost 6,000 m2, a significant part of the funding came from the Heritage Lottery Fund allocated by the National Lottery Fund of about 20 million pounds and 6.8 million from the council of the London district of Haringa, where Alexandra Palace is located.
