The Empire Theatre
THE EMPIRE THEATRE, HIGH STREET WEST
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1279891
- Date first listed:
- 10-Nov-1978
- List Entry Name:
- The Empire Theatre
- Statutory Address:
- THE EMPIRE THEATRE, HIGH STREET WEST
Location
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Images of England Project
- Date:
- 1999-08-22
- Reference:
- IOE01/01196/10
- Rights:
- © Mr B.G. Carroll. Source: Historic England Archive
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Official list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II*
- List Entry Number:
- 1279891
- Date first listed:
- 10-Nov-1978
- List Entry Name:
- The Empire Theatre
- Statutory Address 1:
- THE EMPIRE THEATRE, HIGH STREET WEST
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:
- THE EMPIRE THEATRE, HIGH STREET WEST
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- District:
- Sunderland (Metropolitan Authority)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- NZ 39269 57047
Details
SUNDERLAND
NZ3957SW HIGH STREET WEST 920-1/17/111 (North side) 10/11/78 The Empire Theatre
GV II*
Theatre. 1906-7. By W and TR Milburn with c1989 rear upper bar extension. Ashlar entrance building; rear auditorium and lobbies brick with ashlar dressing; copper dome; slate roof. L-plan. Free Baroque style. EXTERIOR: 2 storeys, 2 windows to High Street West; 3-storey corner entrance tower. Right return 2 storeys; entrance one window, long rear range. Main front: box office entrance at left of shop front. One wide tripartite round-headed window above with upper glazing bars in architrave; canted right corner of this has narrow first-floor window with upper glazing bars. Projecting corner tower has paired Ionic columns supporting ground floor entablature with dentilled frieze; long panels through upper stages have keyed oeil-de-boeuf below cornices on first floor; second-floor aproned moulded sills to small lights under swags with lions' heads; modillioned cornice to top entablature below balustraded parapet interrupted by continuation of panels through to round-headed dormers containing oeil-de-boeuf under long keystones which extend to moulded round cornice. Ribbed dome supports lantern of 4 angled pairs of Ionic columns framing niches, with top open-work sphere supporting statue (replica, the original inside the theatre) of Terpsichore. Right return has blank ground floor, Venetian first-floor window. Brick rear range has shallow canted first-floor bay windows with upper glazing bars. Plaque on right return commemorates laying of foundation stone by Vesta Tilley on September 29th, 1906. INTERIOR: much rich Baroque detail. Main entrance has circular lobby with painted classical scenes, terrazzo floor. Auditorium wide with 2 curved balconies, the lower with side arcades to stairs which rise to balcony from stalls level. Above these lower stairs boxes project in round turrets at second-balcony level, with paired Ionic columns supporting balustraded moulded cupolas with gabled dormers. Rectangular proscenium arch with central raised tablet. Ribbed coved ceiling with stucco decoration in Baroque style. All balconies have richly moulded fronts. A remarkably unaltered interior, carefully restored by the Borough Council. (The Curtains Committee: Curtains: 1982-: 184).
Listing NGR: NZ3926957047
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 391491
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Curtains or A New Life for Old Theatres, (1982), 184
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 09-Jun-2026 at 11:20:39.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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