Catalogue description HACKNEY EMPIRE, Mare Street, London

Title deeds and associated records

Prior to deposit the documents had been sorted into seven groups, roughly corresponding to different properties acquired to make up the Hackney Empire site and to the contracts with the builders and later agreements between Stoll and the Hackney Empire Palace Ltd. These groupings have been retained for this list.

Hackney Empire, London, theatre

Open

Acc 1993/8

Date of Deposit: April 1993

Deposited by: Administrator, Hackney Empire

Condition of Deposit: Indefinite loan.

Sources on the history of the Empire are scattered. Licensing records are held by the Greater London Record Office. Oswald Stoll's house in Putney was destroyed in the Second World War and his personal papers are assumed to have been lost. Stoll Moss Theatres do not appear to have any records for the Hackney Empire in their archives, held at the Theatre Royal (at 1993). The company that succeeded to Frank Matcham's architectutal practice would appear to have dispersed his papers to various enquirers and the wherabouts of this material is not known.

Hackney Archives Department holds the following:

Deposited collections: Prospectus and illustrated description, 1900. (M3226)

Programme 1910 (D/F/JON 1/15)

Local History Collections: Subject file, including article from the Builder, 1901.

Theatre programmes 1924-39; 1945-56; a small selection of theatre posters.

Visual collections Folder of copy illustrations from HAD collections.

Licensing history is covered in Diana Howard. London's Theatres and Music Halls (1970) in the Local Collection.

The Hackney Empire theatre was a venture by Oswald Stoll, then based in Cardiff. Stoll negotiated with the various site owners to acquire the site of 381-391 Mare Street and land to the south and west adjoining the Grove and Grove Passage. The Hackney Empire, designed by Frank Matcham and built by F. & F.H.Higgs, with interior decorations by De Jong & Co, opened in 1901. It had a seating capacity of 3000. Stoll transfereed his ownership to his company the Hackney Empire Palace Ltd, which continued to run it (under various titles). The theatre was intended to provide variety acts and continued to do so until closure on 30 January 1956. Thereafter it was taken over by A.T.V. for use as television studios and programmes including 'Take Your Pick' were recorded there. Used to stage wrestling matches in 1960 it was sold to Mecca and used as a bingo hall for many years. Mecca removed the distinctive pineapple domes on each side of the building before 1980 and these were the subject of a long court action by the Historic Buildings Division of the Greater London Council, which was won by the Council. The restoration of the domes coincided with the sale of the Hackney Empire by Mecca to a group led by Roland Muldoon, who re-opened the Empire as a theatre in 1986. The Empire is now Hackney's only surviving purpose built theatre and is host to a wide range of acts. It has its own Friends group.

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