Pavilion Weymouth

NEW PAVILION, WEYMOUTH - This Pavilion contains assembly‑room, with gallery and promenade round the end and two sides, with access therefrom to verandah surrounding the outside of building. The assembly‑room, with gallery, accommodates eleven hundred people seated. The stage contains all appointments necessary for first‑ class variety and dramatic entertainments. Provision also is made for the orchestra and four dressing‑ rooms. The space above stage is of sufficient height to allow the scenery being raised above the top of proscenium opening. Ladies’ and gentlemen’s lavatories, with pay office, vestibule, buffet, manager’s room are provided, and a tea‑room, which is placed on the first floor. The seating will be of the tip‑up fauteuil type. The heating is intended to be by low‑pressure hot‑water system. The building is constructed of steel framework, encased in wood, externally and internally, in fibrous plaster, washed with white distemper. The roof is covered with zinc. The architects are Messrs. Mangnall and Littlewoods, of Manchester. The contractors are Messrs. Wakeham Bros., of Plymouth; Messrs. Dorman, Long. and Co., of London, for steel‑work; and Messrs. A. R. Dean and Sons, Birmingham, for fibrous plaster decorations.[Building News 28 August 1908 Page 293]

WEYMOUTH. - The new pavilion and theatre erected for the corporation on reclaimed land was opened last week (18 December 1908) by the Earl of Shaftesbury. The buildings have been erected from designs by Messrs Mangnall and Littlewoods, of Spring‑gardens, Manchester, chosen in competition by the assessor, Mr J. B, Briggs, F.R.I.B.A. The foyer is 34 ft. by 50 ft., and has a ceiling of fibrous plaster, worked in relief and picked out in gold. The walls are of ivory white, and the floor is laid with wood blocks. On the right and left of the main entrances are ladies’ cloakrooms and lavatory accommodation. Access is gained to the main hall through two pairs of swing doors. The great hall is 81 ft. long and 60 ft. in width, and has a sloping floor, which will give an uninterrupted view of the stage from all parts. The orchestra space is sunk below the level of the main floor. The orchestra stalls provide seating accommodation for 200 persons; the pit stalls contain another 300 seats, and there are 352 in the pit at the further end of the hall. Behind the pit is a promenade. The grand circle, which advances about a third over the ground floor, and circle seats provide accommodation for 250 persons. The total seating accommodation is, therefore, 1,100. There is, however, another wide promenade at the rear of the circle seats, increasing the “holding” capacity of the hall to over 1,500. [Building News 1 January 1909 Page 55]

Reference    Manchester City News 26 October 1907 Page 5 (Personal)
Reference    Building News 21 February 1908 Page 304
Reference    Building News 28 August 1908 Page 293
Reference    Building News 1 January 1909 Page 55
Reference    Builder 9 January 1909 Page 45 - opening
Reference    British Architect 1 January 1909 Page 18 - opening