Canterbury Music Hall

Canterbury Music Hall

Canterbury Hall Canterbury Palace of Varieties Canterbury Theatre Canterbury Theatre of Varieties[1]
Interior of the Canterbury Hall, shown in a print of 1856.
Address	143 Westminster Bridge Road Lambeth, London
Coordinates	51°29′57″N 0°06′48″W / 51.4991°N 0.1134°W / 51.4991; -0.1134
Owner	Charles Morton
Designation	Demolished
Type	Music hall
Capacity	1852 700 seated 1854 1,500
Construction
Opened	17 May 1852
Closed	1942 (bomb damaged)
Rebuilt	1852, 1854, 1858 Samuel Field 1876 E. Bridgeman 1890 Frank Matcham 1902 Wylson and Long

The Canterbury Music Hall was established in 1852 by Charles Morton on the site of a former skittle alley adjacent to the Canterbury Tavern at 143 Westminster Bridge Road, Lambeth. It was one of the first purpose-built music halls in London, and "probably the largest and grandest concert-room ever attached to a public house" in London.^[2] Morton came to be dubbed the Father of the Halls as hundreds of imitators were built within the next several years. The theatre was rebuilt three times, and the last theatre on the site was destroyed by bombing in 1942.