Francis Matcham was an English architect who specialised in the design of theatres and music halls. He was best known for his work in London under Moss Empires, which included the designs of the Hippodrome, Hackney Empire, Coliseum and Palladium. During his 40-year career, he was responsible for the design and construction of over 90 theatres. He retired to Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, shortly before the First World War, where he died of a heart attack.
About Frank Matcham in brief
Francis Matcham was an English architect who specialised in the design of theatres and music halls. He was best known for his work in London under Moss Empires, which included the designs of the Hippodrome, Hackney Empire, Coliseum and Palladium. During his 40-year career, he was responsible for the design and construction of over 90 theatres. Matcham retired to Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, shortly before the First World War, where he died of a heart attack, brought about by a blood infection, in 1920. The author Iain Mackintosh, writing for the Dictionary of National Biography in 1993, describes Matcham’s theatre interiors to be superior when compared to the building’s external designs. The auditorium decorations were often mixed with Tudor strap-work, Louis XIV detail, Anglo-Indian motifs, naval and military insignia, rococo panels, classical statuary, and baroque columns. The theatre historian Görel Görelick estimates that Matcham spent three years in the capital during this time, which would seem as likely as 1871 and 1871. The architect’s personal archives note that he was ‘a man of remarkable vigour and had an enthusiasm for life … he possessed a tranquility of mind and a great sense of humour and fun’ He was the second of nine children and the eldest son of Charles Matcham, a brewer, and his wife, Elizabeth née Lancaster. He was educated at Babbacombe School in Torquay, and became apprenticed at the age of 14 to George Soudon Bridgeman, a local architect.
His first major association came in the 1880s when he was employed to design and refurbish theatres belonging to the Revill family who owned many of the theatres throughout the UK at that time. He also designed the Tower Ballroom at Blackpool Tower, Grand Theatre, Blackpool and the Theatre Royal, Norwich all in 1894; and the County Arcade, Leeds, in 1900. In his spare time, Matcham visited many of London’s buildings but took a particular liking to the newly completed Gaiety Theatre in the Strand, designed by Charles Phipps. It is probable that he gained inspiration from the Gaiety to build a normal-sized theatre on a small plot of land, and it is also probable that it was under his guidance that some of his later buildings were also built on this plot. He died in Essex in 1920 after suffering a heartattack, brought. about by an infection, from which he was treated for more than a year. He is buried in the Westcl Cliff Cemetery, in Westcliffs, near Cheltenham, in Essex, and is survived by his wife and their three children. For confidential support call the Samaritans on 08457 90 90 90 or visit a local Samaritans branch, see www.samaritans.org for details. In the U.S. call the National Suicide Prevention Line on 1-800-273-8255.
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