Dates

• Existence: Established 1910

Biography

The London Palladium is a Grade II listed theatre located on Argyll Street, London. The Palladium was built in 1910 by Walter Gibbons on the site of the Corinthian Bazaar, a temporary wooden building which traded in birds.

The first time the building was used as a performing venue was when Fredrick Hengler, from the Hengler circus family rebuilt it as a circus in the early 1860s. Following this period the building was turned into an ice rink, which was a very popular past time at the time and it was renamed National Skating Palace, however, this venture did not prove successful and the building was soon reinstated as a performance venue, converting it into a theatre of varieties redesigned by Frank Matcham, at which point the theatre was named The Palladium. Between 1910 and 1928 The Palladium hosted a successful repertoire of variety, pantomime and moving picture shows and became the regular host of the Royal Variety Performance.

In 1928 the Palladium was taken over by impresario and producer George Black, who managed it until his death in 1945.

In 1955 under the management of Valentine Charles Parnell, The Palladium gained a contract with ITV to host the TV show Sunday Night at the London Palladium, which run until 1967.

By the year 2000 Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group took ownership of the Palladium, which continues holding successful shows and TV contracts including Britain’s Got Talent.

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