Whitehall Theatre
WHITEHALL THEATRE, WHITEHALL SW1
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1259399
- Date first listed:
- 20-Dec-1996
- List Entry Name:
- Whitehall Theatre
- Statutory Address:
- WHITEHALL THEATRE, WHITEHALL SW1
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 2006-03-31
- Reference:
- IOE01/14852/10
- Rights:
- © Miss Patricia Philpott. Source: Historic England Archive
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Official list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1259399
- Date first listed:
- 20-Dec-1996
- List Entry Name:
- Whitehall Theatre
- Statutory Address 1:
- WHITEHALL THEATRE, WHITEHALL SW1
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- WHITEHALL THEATRE, WHITEHALL SW1
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Greater London Authority
- District:
- City of Westminster (London Borough)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 30040 80288
Details
TQ3080SW WHITEHALL, SW1
(west side)
1900-/83/10153 Whitehall Theatre
GV II
Theatre. 1929-30 by Edward A Stone. Steel and reinforced concrete clad in brick and with Portland stone facades to front and rear. Rectangular plan, but with angle between entrance hall and foyers and auditorium which is concealed in the arrangement of the foyers and stairs. Symmetrical facade with bronze windows to first and second floors linked by panels set back in chamfered surrounds. Stepped parapet. Rear elevation with arcaded mouldings.
Interior. Foyer and stairs lead to auditorium with gallery and stage with fly tower. Angled and ribbed proscenium arch with tympanum containing stylised mermaid appearing from a shell and scrolled foliage decoration. Similar motifs are the centrepiece of the octagonal concave ceiling. These curved and moulded surfaces in stippled silver act as reflectors in the ceiling light. Stalls box set back from proscenium, with box over set in ribbed surround, and with two further boxes to either side at back of circle, all with masques and cartouches on box fronts, and those at rear with dentil mouldings. Foliage decoration and dentil mouldings to balcony fronts. Silver cornices. The decoration of black, red, gold and silver was designed to be reflective and is an important part of the composition.
With only 650 seats the Whitehall Theatre was a novel departure for West End theatres, intended according to the Architect and Building News for light comedies rather than the melodramas of earlier years or for big musicals. It was among the first theatres in Britain to champion `an architecture of light', pioneered in German theatres and cinemas during the 1920s but not found in British cinema architecture until the mid-1930s. The auditorium has a decorative cohesion and prettiness rare in theatres of its day, and has the best surviving original fabric of this type of theatre.
Sources:
Building, October 1930;
Architecture Illustrated, November 1930;
Architecture and Building News, 9 January 1931.
Listing NGR: TQ3004080288
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 462945
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Architecture and Building News in January, (1931)
Architecture Illustrated in November, (1930)
Building in October, (1930)
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 11-Jun-2026 at 09:41:10.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.