Charles John Phipps (1835-1897), English architect known for more than 50 theatres he designed in the latter half of the 19th century, including several important ones in London.
1835 March 25th. Born at Bath the son of John Pathleigh Phipps and his wife Eliza
1860 Married to Honnor Hicks and had two sons and three daughters.
1861 Residing at 5 Paragon Buildings, Bath: Charles J. Phipps (age 26 born Chartcombe), Architect. with his wife Honnor and author Ethel N.[1]
1881 Residing at 26 Mecklenburgh Square, Pancras, London: Charles J. Phipps (age 46 born Bath), Architect. with his wife Honnor and daughter Ethel N.[2]
1886 He is noted for his design of the Theatre Royal, Exeter, which caught fire in 1887, killing 186 visitors.
1891 Residing at 26 Mecklenburgh Square, Pancras, London: Charles J. Phipps (age 56 born Bath), Architect. With his wife Honnor, daughter Ida M., son Alwyn R. Phipps (age 26 born Bath), Electrical Engineer, and a niece.[3]
1897 May 25th. Died at Marylebone and buried in Highgate Cemetery.
1897 Obituary.[4]
It is with regret we record the death of Mr Charles John Phipps, the well-known theatrical architect, whose latest completed work in the metropolis was Her Majesty's Theatre. Mr Phipps died on Tuesday morning, somewhat suddenly, at his residence, 26, Mecklenburgh-square. On Saturday he went to Dover, where he was building a theatre, and, contracting a chill on the return journey, took to his bed on Sunday. He had been suffering from a heart affection for some time.
Mr Phipps was born in the year 1835, at Bath, and practised in that city before he came to London. While at Bath he competed for the design for the erection of the new theatre there, and it was in consequence of the success of this building that he was employed to build others, and therefore settled in London in order to attend to the large practice which awaited him. He transformed the Strand Music Hall into the Gaiety Theatre, and since then has been engaged in the construction of a large number of theatres in all parts of the kingdom.
The London theatres erected or reconstructed from his designs and under his directions include the Queen's, in Long-acre (formerly St. Martin's Hall); the Prince of Wales's, the New Princess's, the New Strand, the Savoy, the Lyric, the Vaudeville, Sadler's Wells, the Haymarket; the Varieties, Hoxton; the Shaftesbury, 1888; the Lyric, 1889; Hengler's Cirque (now known as the National Skating Palace); the theatre of the Lyric Club, the internal reconstruction of the Lyceum, Comedy, St. James's, and Globe Theatres; the superintendence of the Garrick Theatre, 1889; and the Tivoli Theatre, 1890; the Queen's Hall (jointly with Mr Knightley); and Her Majesty's Theatre, Haymarket.
The provincial list includes the Theatre Royal, Bath; Prince's Theatre, Bristol; Theatres Royal, Plymouth, Torquay, Brighton, Eastbourne, Swansea, Worcester, Nottingham, and Portsmouth; the Empire Palace, Portsmouth; Theatres Royal, Sheffield, South Shields, and Darlington; the Gaiety Theatre, Hastings ; the Opera House, Leicester ; the Opera House, Northampton; the Opera House, Leamington; the Rotunda, Liverpool; the Alexandra (reconstructed), Liverpool; the Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton; and the Tivoli, Dover.
In Scotland:- The Theatre Royal, Edinburgh; the Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh; Theatre Royal, Glasgow; Theatre Royal, Dumfries; Her Majesty's Opera House, Aberdeen.
In Ireland:- The Gaiety Theatre, Dublin; the Leinster Hall, Dublin; Theatre Royal, Belfast; Theatre Royal, Londonderry; the Royal and Opera House, Cork. Mr Phipps held the appointment of architect to the proprietors of Drury-lane Theatre for fifteen years, and has acted as consulting architect to the Government at Cape Town for the improvement of the acoustics in the House of Assembly and for the theatre there, and also to the proprietors of the Theatre at Kimberley, S.A.
Some of the other important public buildings erected from the designs of Mr C. J. Phipps included the Devonshire Club, the Lyric Club, the Gaiety Restaurant, and the hotel in Pall-mall and the Haymarket now being erected on the site of Her Majesty's Opera House. We understand that the late Mr Phipps's partner, Mr Arthur Blomfield Jackson, will carry on the various works with which they have been associated, and will continue the practice at 26, Mecklenburgh-square. The funeral took place on Friday. The first part of the Burial Service was solemnised at the Church of St. Alban the Martyr, Holborn; and the remains were afterwards interred in Highgate Cemetery.
Designed:-
- Theatre Royal, Bath (1862/3)
- Theatre Royal, Nottingham (1865)
- Theatre Royal, Brighton (1866)
- Queen's Theatre, Long Acre (1867)
- Prince's Theatre, Bristol (1867)
- Gaiety Theatre, London (1868)
- Olympic Theatre (1870)
- Varieties Music Hall, Hoxton (1870), demolished c. 1980
- Vaudeville Theatre, London (1871)
- Gaiety Theatre, Dublin (1871)
- Tivoli Theatre, Aberdeen (1872)
- Sadler's Wells Theatre, London (1879, completely rebuilt in 1931)
- Theatre Royal, Glasgow (1880 and 1895), the largest surviving example of his work
- Theatre Royal, Belfast (1881), demolished 1961
- Savoy Theatre, London (1881),[10] rebuilt 1929
- Royal Strand Theatre (1882) demolished 1905[11]
- Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh (1883)
- Royal Hippodrome Theatre, Eastbourne (originally Theatre Royal and Opera House) (1883)
- Prince's Theatre, London (1884) also known as the Prince of Wales Theatre; demolished 1934
- Royal Theatre, Northampton (1884)
- Theatre Royal, Portsmouth (1884)
- Theatre Royal, Exeter (1886), burnt down in the same year
- Lyric Theatre, London (1888)
- Original Shaftesbury Theatre (1888)
- Garrick Theatre, London, with Walter Emden (1889)
- Tivoli Theatre of Varieties, London (1890), demolished 1957
- Queen's Hall (1893), preliminary designs only, bombed in 1941
- Daly's Theatre (1893), demolished
- Grand Theatre, Wolverhampton (1894)
- Toole's Theatre (1895), never built
- Her Majesty's Theatre, London (1897)