Dominion Theatre

The Dominion Theatre is located immediately adjacent to Tottenham Court Road tube station at the junction with New Oxford Street. Although its location is central, the property is some distance away from the rest of the West End's 'Theatreland'. The site itself is bounded by Tottenham Court Road on the West, Great Russell Street to the north and Bainbridge Street to the South. The building was originally constructed in 1928 and converted to cinema use in 1930. In addition to the main theatre building, there is a large administrative / dressing room block on the right hand side and a terrace of shops, offices and residential buildings on the left overlooking Great Russell Street.

The theatre itself has a structural steel frame with brick elevations and a mixture of flat and steeply pitched roofs. Floors are concrete and windows are generally of the metal-framed type. Floor levels vary considerably, eight building heights being essentially single storey along Tottenham Court Road and six storeys to the Bainbridge Street side. The rear of the theatre is disused for audience purposes and a proportion has been converted into office accommodation for Tickets London and has been linked into 7 Great Russell Street. Internally, in addition to the Bainbridge Street block and main auditorium, public areas and ancillary accommodation used for theatre activities are also fairly extensive and are complex from the point of view of layout.

According to the book "The Theatres of London" by Richard Mander and Joe Mitchenson, this was once the site for the St Giles's Leper Hospital, founded in 1101 by Matilda, Queen of Henry I. A brewery had covered the ground as far back as 1764, and in 1809 Henry Meux took possession of the brewery, naming it Meux's Brewery. This was pulled down in 1922, and while the site was vacant, it was used by O'Brien's Fun Fair. In 1925 the site was levelled and opened as 'Luna Park'.

Construction of The Dominion Theatre commenced in March 1928. It was built on two sites; the entrance hall and café being built on the site of the former Court Cinema (which existed from October 1911 - March 1928), with the auditorium and stage on a site previously occupied by Meux's brewery. It was designed by the architects William & T. R. Milburn and the building cost £459,727.

The Dominion opened on 3rd October 1929 with an American musical comedy on golf by De Sylvia Brown and Henderson called Follow Through (Follow Thru on Broadway). Neither this, nor a follow up musical Silver Wings were very successful. Universal hired The Dominion for its movie Phantom of the Opera with 35% dialogue and some new footage added to the 1925 silent movie. This was followed by Charlie Chaplin's City Lights without dialogue, but with synchronised music and sound effects. It opened in February 1931, with Chaplin making a personal appearance. More live shows followed, but in April 1932 a receiver was appointed and on 30th May 1932 an order for the compulsory winding up of the company's affairs was made (it owed half a million pounds).

The Dominion Theatre address

268-269 Tottenham Court Road, London, W1T 7AQ

Nearest Underground to The Dominion Theatre

Tottenham Court Road

Train to The Dominion Theatre

Charing Cross

The Dominion Theatre

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