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Art Deco Ireland

 Frank Matcham - Theatre Royal (2), Dublin.
 

 

 

 

 

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Last Theatre Royal

Art Deco Index
One evening in 1880 a very young Mr Winston Churchill, later to be famous, was on his way to a performance of "Ali Baba" at the first Theatre Royal in Dublin. There was no reason to rush - the theatre was on fire! 

It was rebuilt as the Leinster Hall. Eventually  a commission to rebuild a new Theatre Royal on the same site went to Frank Matcham and the Theatre reopened in 1897 incorporating some elements of the hall.  Closed March 1934 and demolished to make way for the last Theatre Royal.

Theatre Royal (second)  a programme illustration.Frank Matcham, Theatre Architect- second Theatre Royal , Dublin ,exterior view from an old programme. From Art Deco Ireland.

Matcham (1854-1920) was undoubtedly the most celebrated English theatre architect of his time. The only Frank Matcham Theatre to remain in Ireland is the Grand Opera House in Belfast, built 1894/95. It is said that the marble staircase in Marks & Spencer in Grafton Street, Dublin came from the Frank Matcham Theatre Royal.