Glasgow's 'Royalty'

In the wake of the dreadful Glasgow School of Art fire this week, I've been in Glasgow, exploring the area of the city now known as the Theatre District.  Glasgow was well served for theatres and Music Halls in the late 1890s and 1900s and  Benson was a frequent visitor - I've tracked 44 separate visits to the city, but there may well have been more.

Initially, the company played the 'Royalty' on the corner of Renfield Street and Sauchiehall Street, part of the Central Halls building.  The theatre itself, built in 1879, was one of the first to be designed by Frank Matcham.  Benson's Company often stayed for two week seasons until 1909, when the Royalty became a repertory theatre.  The Royalty was very close to the Pavillion Theatre and the Theatre Royal as well as the huge Empire Theatre, just across the road. 



By 1914 The Royalty had become The Lyric

Renamed The Lyric, the theatre eventually became a cinema before being damaged by fire in 1953.  Although rebuilt, the whole building was demolished in 1959. 

Sauchiehall Street must originally have looked as impressive as Buchanan Street does today, a thriving street  of department stores, tea rooms places of entertainment. (I'd like to think that the Bensonians occasionally frequented the Willow Tea Rooms.  Maybe they also walked uphill a few blocks to see the new School of Art building, which was finished in 1909.  I'm not sure if Toshie and Margaret were Shakespeare fans, but maybe they went to see the Bensons?  It's a nice thought!)