Egyptian Hall (1812 - 1905)
Dates
- Existence: 1812 - 1905
Biography
The Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London, was an exhibition hall built in 1812 in the ancient Egyptian style. The Hall became very successful offering exhibitions of artwork and especially watercolours with William Turner exhibiting there on several occasions over the years. Equally acclaimed were the lectures and popular entertainment shows, especially the magic acts.
The Egyptian Hall was first commissioned by William Bullock as a museum to house his ethnographic and natural history collections, some of which had been brought back to the UK by Captain Cook. By 1819 he sold his collections and turned the museum into an exhibition hall. Bullock managed the Hall until 1825 when he sold it to George Lackington who added panoramas and entertainment productions to the art exhibitions and continued achieving great success.
By the turn of the nineteenth century, the Egyptian Hall had become strongly associated with magic and spiritualism and was hosting magic shows regularly. In 1873, Maskelyne and Cooke’s mentor William Morton took over the management of the Hall, which provided a venue for the duo for the next thirty-one years. During this period the Hall became known as England's Home of Mystery, until in 1905 it was demolished to build flats and offices.