THE SETTLEMENT HOUSES
(The New) Oxford House on Derbyshire Street in Bethnal Green
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OXFORD HOUSE & ENTERTAINMENT
In 1898, The Reverend H.S. Woollcombe was Head of Oxford House with Mr. A.P. Charles as Honourary Manager of Entertainments. At this time, Mr. Charles, who was said to be a man of great enthusiasm, formed The Musical and Drama Association.
Oxford House favoured founding such an Association since it had long since had the specific aim of providing good entertainment to the people of Bethnal Green at reasonable prices.
The House had hoped to build a Hall for its presentations on the site of the old Oxford Hall. Such a venture would have proven costly and would have drained monies from its other programmes. Once it was learned that The Excelsior Hall & Swimming Baths was to come onto the market, The House was eager to obtain the lease.
Prior to the building of The Excelsior Hall & Swimming Baths in 1889, Bethnal Green had no Public Hall suitable to hold large meetings and no Public Baths. Oxford House evidently believed that The Excelsior Hall & Swimming Baths would be ideal to help it fulfill its needs.
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EVENINGS AT EXCELSIOR HALL
Although I have written extensively about the history of Excelsior Hall,
both as part of Oxford House and as an independent cinema,
which may be found by following
what follows is an expanded history of The Hall,
which I hope will prove of interest to the reader.
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The Excelsior Hall & Swimming Baths was constructed for a private company in 1889 to the original design of A. Wooster-Reeves at the corner of Mansford and Florida Streets in Bethnal Green. At that time, The Hall contained two swimming baths, one of which was 100 feet by 25 feet, and the other, 58 feet by 24 feet. During the winter months, the baths were covered and the space used for meetings and concerts.
Excelsior Hall as a Cinema during the early 1960s
In 1898, Oxford House acquired the building on lease for eighty years, and in the first summer, 38,000 tickets were sold to the swimming baths.
Left: Early Advertisement of The Excelsior Baths & Swimming Baths
Right: St. Margaret’s House, Old Ford Road
The Hall was reasonably well-equipped for stage productions, as there were five dressings rooms and a the stage that was eighteen feet in depth. The Hall also came with an eight-roomed house, which was used by a caretaker and three residents of Oxford House.
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In 1899, a Choir was formed from the Club members who lived in the area, and was under the direction of Mr. Charles. The Choir gave a number of recitals at Excelsior Hall, and occasionally elsewhere, which were enthusiastically received.
The large stage was able to accommodate with ease the Association Orchestra, which often consisted of fifty local musicians. In addition, excerpts from Operas and Shakespeare Plays were presented at The Hall.
The recitals presented at The Hall were generally enthusiastically received by the public. For example, in 1903, fourteen performances were given in the early part of the winter and were attended by a little over one thousand spectators at each performance. I knew the Excelsior Hall later as a child when it was a cinema and one thousand spectators would undoubtedly have meant that all seats were filled and standing room was probably also at capacity!
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The Musical and Drama Association gave regular presentations at Excelsior Hall between November and April for a number of years, which were occasionally reviewed in music publications of the time.
What follows are highlights from some of the reviews that The Musical and Drama Association received.
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The Musical Times, January 1, 1904 reviewed a performance of Mendelssohn’s Elijah that had been presented at Excelsior Hall one month earlier by The Oxford House Musical and Drama Association under the direction of Mr. Cuthbert Kelly, and which was most appreciated by the reviewer.
Click here to hear Mendelssohn’s And then shall your light break forth from Elijah
The Mormon Tabernacle Choir
The reviewer noted that the Choir was made up of working people from the area and with musical accompaniment by a mixture of amateur and professional musicians. The reviewer was impressed that, over the four-year period since The Choir’s formation, it had become one of note and had presented works of some difficulty, which in addition to Elijah, included: The Messiah, The Creation, Hymns of Praise, Golden Legend, Haiawatha and Acis & Galatea together with Gounod’s Faust and Carmen in concert form.
The reviewer also noted that the presentation was well received with vigorous applause and that the audience was both appreciative and well-behaved and perhaps would put to shame a more brilliantly dressed audience in the West End.
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The Musical News, June 15, 1904 reviewed the Annual Concert by The Choir of The Oxford House Musical and Drama Association given at St. James’ Hall in the presence of the Princess of Wales (1967-1953). During the Interval, the Bishop of London and former Head of Oxford House, The Reverend Arthur Winnington-Ingram, spoke about the activities currently being offered at The House during the Interval. Later the Princess of Wales expressed a wish to be an annual subscriber to The Concert.
Mary, Princess of Wales in 1901
The audience was treated to a number of pieces performed by The Choir, which included Schubert’s Song of Miriam. In addition, The Orchestra, conducted by Mr. Cuthbert Kelly, performed Beethoven’s Overture to Egmont and a few other well-performed pieces. The reviewer made special note of the Excelsior Boys Choir, which had only been formed a few months earlier and who performed Horn’s Cherry Ripe and Sterndale Bennett’s Maydew.
Click here to hear Horn’s Cherry Ripe performed by Ms Catherine Swanson
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It seems that The Association also gave annual concerts at Queens Hall for a number of years.
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The Musical Herald, June 1, 1908 referred to the Concerts performed at Excelsior Hall every Saturday night from November to April, as a Musical Oasis in Bethnal Green. The reviewer states that often the Concerts offer a chorus of 200 singers!
The reviewer also refers to The Federation of Working Men’s Club that gave a cup to the best choir, which Oxford House seemingly had won in the past and also The Choir of the University Club that won it the next year. The reviewer gives gives mention to a Boys Choir formed by children from the neighbourhood and the Sunday Afternoon Concerts that were apparently popular with the local men and notes that they were especially appreciated of the Violin.
Finally, the reviewer notes that during the past season, Mr. Charles Fry and Miss Olive Kennett presented nine evenings of Shakespeare in full costume with a full company from the Royal Theatre together with musical accompaniment.
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Several years ago, a friend of mine came across a programme of a performance of Othello presented by Mr. Charles Fry and Miss Olive Kennett on 25th February, 1905 at the Excelsior Hall. The programme gives detail of the complete series of plays to be presented during the 1904-1905 season.
I was given this programme as a gift, which I have now passed to Oxford House, since I believe that this is where it belongs.
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In 1911, the Queen’s Hall Orchestra visited the Excelsior Hall. I am unsure how this concert was received, but I suspect that it was well received. Also in 1911, the 100th Shakespearean Recital by Mr. Charles Fry was presented.
It is hard to believe that the populace of Bethnal Green was so supportive of these presentations of Shakespeare plays, but evidently they were. Sadly, it is certainly questionable that such presentations would be as well received today.
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In 1919, The Excelsior Hall was redecorated and repaired. In addition, electric light was installed. The Hall was in use each evening during the winter season and a number of plays were produced and presented here under the direction of Oxford House. A Shakespeare play was presented on alternate Saturday evenings by Mr. Ben Greet.
Sadly, The Baths were found to leak badly at this time and it was also noted that the heating apparatus was now beyond repair.
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In 1920, the Council decided to hand over the Excelsior Hall (& Baths) to a company composed of people with an interest in Oxford House and agreed to have The Hall turned into a cinema.
The Council believed that by doing this Oxford House would obtain a regular income and continue to offer the people of Bethnal Green a clean cinema where they might improve their minds while keeping The Hall in the hands of people believed in the principles of Oxford House.
To see the plans to turn the Excelsior Hall into a cinema,
In 1921, The Excelsior Hall was converted into the Excelsior Kinema (Kino), a weekday cinema, which offered continuous performance from 2.30 p.m. to 10.30 p.m. with Sunday lectures continuing. The necessary changes to the building were undertaken using plans drawn up by the company of Emden & Egan.
Despite changes to the building, the The Musical and Drama Association, now with a membership of 150, continued to perform there each Sunday together with one night each month where the programme was devoted to operatic productions. In addition, Sunday afternoon lectures continued to be given there.
The building underwent further minor reconstruction in 1926 under the direction of Frank Matcham & Company, which resulted in a reduction of the seating capacity to 800.
To see these plans, also follow the LINK above
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Operas were presented on one night each month at the Excelsior Kinema in 1926. Queen Mary visited the building again in May 1928 and during a two-hour visit, she was treated to a presentation of Il Pagliacci, as performed by the Oxford House Choral Society and a showing of the silent film, Chang: A Drama of the Wilderness (1927).
Following her visit to the Excelsior Kino, Queen Mary, accompanied by the Mayor of Bethnal Green, Mr. M.H. Seymour, paid a visit to Oxford House. As she left the Excelsior Kino, she walked between a guard of honour formed by members of the Choral Society.
Queen Mary during her visit to the Excelsior Kino accompanied by Mr. M.H. Seymour
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Former Entrance to York Hall Baths for Women
In 1929, York Hall Swimming Baths were opened in Bethnal Green, which filled the gap that followed the closure of the Swimming Baths associated with Excelsior Hall. At this time, the Council of Oxford House discussed the possibility of staging productions at York Hall since the Excelsior Kinema was now functioning purely as a cinema, showing only silent films, except for Sunday afternoons when lectures were presented.
York Hall Today
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In the same year, Oxford House decided against financing the necessary conversion at the Excelsior Kinema to allow the screening of talking pictures. Despite this, The House did not wish to withdraw from its association with the Excelsior Hall/Kinema completely and decided to continue its support of Sunday afternoon lectures and the periodic presentations of Shakespeare plays, Operas and choral works.
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Although the presentation of Shakespeare plays, Operas and choral works were still popular with the public in 1931, The Council noted that their popularity had declined since earlier times. There were now new forms of entertainment to entice the residents away and perhaps the most potent of these enticements at this time was the cinema. As a result, sadly The Musical and Drama Association failed to make a profit during this season.
By 1933, The Council began to question the continuation of the Sunday afternoon lecture series. The lecture series was relatively expensive and time-consuming to produce and now they were no longer commanding the audience that it once had. The Council noted with obvious sadness that the best lecture lacked the appeal of even the most ordinary film.
Eventually, in 1934, it was decided to discontinue the Sunday afternoon lecture series. Opera continued to be presented at the Excelsior Kinema until the beginning of the Second World War.
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In 1939, the Excelsior Kino underwent further changes. Both the exterior and the interior were remodeled in Art Deco style by Maple & Company which was a top designer and retailer of furniture at the time. Following the remodeling, the seating capacity was reduced to 661.
To see the plans,
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The Excelsior was always an Independent Cinema and was never affiliated with one of the large cinema chains. However, during the time when I visited the cinema, the films most often screened were those concurrently shown on the North East J. Arthur Rank Gaumont circuit.
Between 1948 and 1956, which were the years when I visited the cinema, the larger auditorium was exclusively used to screen films. Its days of being a venue for opera were long since over.
When I knew the Excelsior Cinema, I cannot ever remember the second smaller Hall being used for any purpose at all, in fact I have to admit that I had no idea that there was a second Hall!
During the mid-1950s, the popularity of going to the cinema began to wain in popularity. At this time, television was gaining in popularity, which was greatly helped by the availability of affordable television sets. People now preferring to remain at home and watch television programming for free rather than go to the cinema. As a result, the cinemas of Bethnal Green, as was the case throughout the country, began either to close completely or were converted into Bingo Halls.
The Excelsior Cinema stopped screening films in August 1961 and closed as a cinema. Following this, The Excelsior reopened as a Bingo Hall. In 1965, the remainder of the lease was sold and Oxford House’s association with the erstwhile Excelsior Hall/Kino/Kinema finally came to an end.
Advertisement of the last films shown at the Excelsior Cinema
Following this, the building was used once again as a cinema for the screening Asian films. This continued until 1969 when the building was demolished. Once the site was cleared, the building of a housing estate began.
Where The Excelsior Hall once stood
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Although the Excelsior has long since gone, it has not been forgotten by many including me! There are too many memories associated with it for that to happen.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to thank the author(s) of The Oxford House in Bethnal Green (1884-1948), which provided much of the material detailed here. I would also like to thank Mr. John Ryan and Ms Maja Bevk of Oxford House (OH!) for their help in the preparation of this series.
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