St. James'
Theatre & Exhibition Hall
Oxford Street has long been
connected with entertainment. In the 1800s the Princes Theatre
and the Hippodrome sat on one side and the St. James Theatre and the
Palace across the way. The St. James Theatre and Exhibition Hall,
seen above, dominated the street with its tall clock tower. When
"moving pictures" made an appearance, the St. James Hall became an
important venue for showing them to large and enthusiastic
audiences.
The Arthur Lloyd Theatre and
Music Hall site states that the St. James's Theatre and Exhibition Hall
was built in
1884. The drawing above shows the configuration of the building
in 1888. The theatre closed in 1907 but reopened as a cinema in
1908.
The theatre must have
been demolished not long after its reopening because in 1912 work began
on an even more imposing building which now occupies this site.
The St. James Building, designed by Clegg, Fryer and Penman, was built
for the Calico Printers Association.
