Charles John Phipps (25 March 1835 – 25 May 1897) was an English architect known for more than forty theatres he designed in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

He began his own practice in his native Bath in 1857, designing buildings and furniture in the Gothic Revival style. In 1862 he gained his first theatre commission, the Theatre Royal, Bath, which generally retaining the Georgian character of the original theatre on the site. He moved to London in 1868, where he designed a variety of non-theatrical buildings, including the Royal Institute of British Architects’ own premises.

Four of his West End theatres survive: the Vaudeville, the Lyric, the Garrick and Her (now His) Majesty's. Eight others have been rebuilt in the twentieth century (including the Savoy and Sadler's Wells) or demolished (including the Gaiety and Daly's).

In the British provinces Phipps's theatres have fared better, with the prominent exception of the Theatre Royal, Exeter, which burned down in 1887 with large loss of life. Nine others have been destroyed by fire or bombs, rebuilt or demolished, but eight have survived, including the Theatres Royal at Bath, Brighton, Glasgow and Nottingham and theatres in Aberdeen, Eastbourne, Edinburgh and Northampton. Of his surviving theatres, all but one are Listed buildings – officially designated as of particular architectural or historic interest deserving special protection.

Life and career Early years Phipps was born in Lansdown, Bath in Somerset, the eldest of the three children of John Rashleigh Phipps and his second wife, Elizabeth Ruth Neate. He was educated at St Catherine's Hermitage, Bath, and then articled to an architectural practice in the city.

After a sketching tour on the Continent, Phipps established his own practice in Bath in 1857, producing designs for buildings and furniture in the Gothic Revival style of George Godwin and William Burges. In 1860 he married Honor Hicks of Enborne, Berkshire; they had five children, born between 1860 and 1872, four of whom survived into adulthood."Charles John Phipps F.S.A, F.R.I.B.A.", Ancestry.com. Retrieved 23 August 2025

In 1862 Phipps gained his first theatre commission – a replacement of the old Theatre Royal, Bath, which had been gutted by fire. He came first in a competition to rebuild the theatre, and created the new house around the shell of the old, making use of the walls that remained, and generally retaining the Georgian character of George Dance the Younger's original building.Lowndes, p. 52 As a 1901 biographer put it, this "marked the direction of a future career, at variance both with the wishes of his parents, who disapproved of theatres, and with his training, which was Gothic and ecclesiastical".

London Phipps and his family moved to London in 1868, living at 26 Mecklenburgh Square in Bloomsbury, which he made his office as well as his home. He designed some non-theatrical buildings, including a substantial reconstruction of the Devonshire Club in St James's, the new Carlton Hotel in the Haymarket, the 100-room Lyric Club near Leicester Square, flats in Shaftesbury Avenue, business premises in the Strand, Ludgate Hill and Moorgate, the Savoy Turkish Baths and the militia barracks in Bath."The Lyric Club", The Daily News, 16 November 1888, p. 3

Other non-theatre designs included Leinster Hall in Dublin for Michael Gunn (opened in 1886 and replaced in 1897), the Star and Garter Hotel at Richmond (demolished in 1919) and the Savoy Victorian Turkish baths, the first in London to be lit by electricity.Shifrin, p. 139 Phipps was chosen to design the Royal Institute of British Architects’ own premises at 9 Conduit Street. The building is still there, although no longer occupied by the institute. Nonetheless it was as a theatre architect that he became best known.Mackintosh and Sell, p. 216

Theatres Phipps more often designed theatres for straight drama, rather than music halls – the latter boomed later in the century and became associated with younger architects including Frank Matcham and W. G. R. Sprague. Phipps's style was influenced by the great French theatres of the eighteenth and mid-nineteenth centuries, with, as a 1982 study puts it, "a solemn, seemingly solid dignity". The decoration of his interiors was restrained, unlike "the integrated high-key rumbustiousness of the later Matcham or Crewe theatres". A similar classical restraint was evident in the exterior of most of his buildings.

Phipps established himself as the leading theatrical architect, designing, in rapid succession, the Queen's (1867), the Gaiety (1868), the Olympic (1870) and the Vaudeville (1871). His West End theatres of the 1880s included the Savoy Theatre (1881), the Strand (1882), the Prince's (1884), the Lyric (1888), the original Shaftesbury Theatre (1888) and the Garrick (1889). His London theatres of the 1890s were the Tivoli (1890), Daly's (1893) and Her Majesty's Theatre (1897).

In addition to Phipps's London theatres, he was responsible for many more in the provinces. These included the ill-fated Theatre Royal, Exeter, which opened in 1886 and caught fire disastrously the following year: at least 150 members of the audience were killed. A parliamentary inquiry placed some of the blame on Phipps and his designs."Exeter Theatre Fire", BBC, 9 June 2003

Phipps's other provincial theatres fared better, and were established as far north as Aberdeen and as far west as Dublin. Eight have survived including the Theatres Royal at Bath, Brighton, Glasgow and Nottingham and theatres in Aberdeen, Eastbourne, Edinburgh and Northampton. Of his surviving theatres, all but one are Listed buildings – officially designated by the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England or Historic Environment Scotland as of particular architectural or historic interest deserving special protection.

Phipps died on 25 May 1897, aged 62, and is buried in a family grave on the east side of Highgate Cemetery.

Theatres by Phipps In London except where indicated DateTheatreNotes 1863 Theatre Royal, Bath Listed, Grade II* 1865 Theatre Royal, Nottingham Listed, Grade II 1865 Theatre Royal, South Shields Only the façade remaining, which is Listed, Grade II 1866 Theatre Royal, Brighton Listed, Grade II* 1867 Prince's Theatre, Bristol Destroyed by bombing, 1940 1867 Royal, Swansea Demolished 1867 Queen's, Long Acre Demolished 1868 Gaiety Demolished 1870 Olympic Demolished 1870 Varieties Music Hall, Hoxton Demolished 1871 Gaiety, Dublin Demolished 1871 Vaudeville Listed, Grade II 1872 Tivoli, Aberdeen With James Matthews. Listed, Category A 1873 Theatre Royal, Edinburgh Destroyed by fire, 1947 1875 Theatre Royal, Worcester Demolished 1877 Opera House, Leicester Demolished 1877 Royal Opera House, Derry Demolished 1878 Rotunda Theatre, Liverpool With E. Davis & Sons; destroyed by bombing, 1940 1879 Sadler's Wells Completely rebuilt in 1931 1880 Theatre Royal, Glasgow Burnt down and rebuilt in 1895). The largest surviving example of Phipps's work. Listed, Category A 1881 Savoy Rebuilt 1929 1881 Theatre Royal, Belfast Demolished 1882 Royal Strand Demolished 1882 Gaiety Theatre, Hastings With Cross and Wells; now a cinema 1882 Opera House, Leamington With Osborne and Reading; demolished 1883 Hippodrome, Eastbourne (originally Theatre Royal and Opera House) Listed, Grade II 1883 Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh Listed, Category A 1884 Prince's Theatre, also known as the Prince of Wales Theatre Demolished 1884 Royal, Northampton Listed, Grade II 1884 Theatre Royal, Portsmouth Rebuilt by Matcham, 1900 1886 Theatre Royal, Exeter Burnt down in the same year 1887 Theatre Royal, Darlington Demolished 1888 Lyric Listed, Grade II 1888 Original Shaftesbury Theatre Demolished 1889 Garrick With Walter Emden. Listed, Grade II* 1890 Tivoli Theatre of Varieties Demolished 1893 Daly's Demolished 1893 Queen's Hall Preliminary designs only; hall destroyed by bombing, 1941 1894 Grand, Wolverhampton Listed, Grade II 1895 Toole's Planned but not built 1897 His Majesty's Listed, Grade II*

Source: Mackintosh and Sell; and Theatres Trust Database."Phipps", Theatres Trust. Retrieved 24 August 2025; and Mackintosh and Sell, p. 216

Notes, references and sources

Notes

References

Sources

External links University of Bristol Theatre Collection, University of Bristol