Description

In the entry for
MOUNT PLEASANT ROAD
TQ 5839 NW
TQ 5839 NE (east side)
3/280 The Opera House,
6/280 with shops below numbers 84 to 96
(even) and numbers 38 to 50 (even)
Monson Road including numbers
24.11.66 38 to 50 (even) Opera Colonnade

II
the description shall be amended;

Theatre incorporating shops on three sides. Built in 1902 to the designs of John Briggs. Symmetrical composition in Neo-georgian style with a Baroque centrepiece. Built of red brick with ashlar dressings with central copper dome and smaller domes at the sides. Three storeys, 23 windows in all to principal elevation. The centre 9 bays form the major composition with flanking six bay wings. Central dome with oculus above broken pediment supported on paired Ionic pilasters. Central curved balcony with round-headed arch and three round-headed openings with french windows. Three flanking bays have oculi with carved figures above second floor and central section terminates with a pediment and double pilasters. Twelve-pane sashes throughout on second floor and fifteen-pane sashes to first floor. The outer ends of the wings end in domes. Outer bays have baroque doorways to the ground floor set against banded rustication. Shops on ground floor. INTERIOR. Foyer has dado panelling, two fireplaces with pilasters, swags and console brackets and two arches with Ionic piers. Main staircase, probably altered after 1923, leads to bar which has mahogany bar fitment with round-headed arch with carved shell motif and painting of C18 revellers and painted fireplace. The auditorium has two slightly curved balconies of six and eight rows each with straight slips running to ranges of superimposed boxes, four on each side. The upper boxes have gryphons at the head of each subdividing pilaster. The Dress Circle retains a glazed screen with lily decoration and the seating probably dates from the cinema conversion of 1923. The Gallery retains original tip up seating with lily motif. The Proscenium is rectangular with elaborately scrolled brackets in the corners and a curved pedimental tablte above the centre flanked by reclining figures personifying Music and Drama. The main ceiling is in the form of a panelled saucer dome set within a richly moulded rectangular frame. Flytower retains scenery winch and metal hooks.

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Opera House, Royal Tunbridge Wells at Wikipedia
• Opera House, Royal Tunbridge Wells official website
• Wikidata Q6463096

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Georgian Style and Design for Contemporary Living
• 
  Cambridgeshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Liverpool: Pevsner City Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
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  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990
• 
  Northumberland (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)