The present writer has to note another change: the “Playhouse” has become
a MUSIC HALL, handsome and commodious. A few years since a company was
formed for the purpose of erecting a spacious Hall, available for musical
and literary recreations, public meetings, and social celebrations. The
Hall was built by Mr. J. D. Williams, from designs by Mr. James Harrison;
and a remarkably fine organ, by Jackson, of Liverpool, has also been
erected. Seats are fitted up for an audience of 1,400 persons, and the
orchestra is capable of accommodating 300 performers. The cost of the
building, with the organ and fittings, was £5,000. The Hall was opened,
on November 26th, 1855, with a grand Miscellaneous Concert, at which
Madame Clara Novello was the principal vocalist, and was crowded by a
brilliant gathering of the beauty and fashion of the city and
neighbourhood. Since that time it has frequently been used for the
performance of oratorios and concerts, for lectures, public meetings, and
other purposes, except theatrical entertainments, which are prohibited by
the terms of the lease under which the site is held from the
ecclesiastical commissioners, in whom the fee simple of the property is
vested.
Returning to the Cross, whence we set out, we now direct our attention to
BRIDGE STREET,
which is an open and spacious street, in length from the Cross to the
Bridge about 554 yards. This street is characterized by many striking
features of deep interest to the antiquarian, and indeed to all who love
to visit the localities which are associated with any remarkable events
of our national and ecclesiastical history. Although the buildings now
present a much more modern aspect than they did some years ago, there are
still remaining many conspicuous proofs of the antiquity of the city, and
many curious remains which give it peculiar attractions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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