47 Facts About Frank Matcham

Francis Matcham was an English architect who specialised in the design of theatres and music halls.

Frank Matcham was best known for his work in London under Moss Empires, which included the designs of the Hippodrome, Hackney Empire, Coliseum, Palladium and the Victoria Palace.

Frank Matcham was born in Newton Abbot, Devon, where he became apprenticed at the age of 14 to the architect George Soudon Bridgman.

Under Robinson, Frank Matcham completed his first solo design, the Elephant and Castle Theatre, which opened in June 1879.

Frank Matcham took over the business on Robinson's death and continued the designs of various provincial theatres.

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Under them, Frank Matcham completed 21 theatres, including three in London, with the rest being in the provinces.

Frank Matcham retired to Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, shortly before the First World War, where he died of a heart attack, brought about by a blood infection, in 1920.

Francis Frank Matcham was born on 22 November 1854 in Newton Abbot, Devon.

Frank Matcham was the second of nine children and the eldest son of Charles Matcham, a brewer, and his wife, Elizabeth Lancaster.

In 1857 Charles Frank Matcham moved his family to Union Street, Torquay, and secured a job as a manager of a brewery and a malthouse.

Frank Matcham showed an early interest in architecture and became apprenticed at the age of 14 to George Soudon Bridgman, a local architect.

The apprenticeship lasted 18 months until Frank Matcham was offered a job at a quantity surveyor's office in London in around 1868.

Frank Matcham learnt the importance of working to tight schedules imposed by demanding customers.

Frank Matcham was impressed at Phipps's ability to build a normal-sized theatre on a small, awkward plot, and it is probable that Frank Matcham gained inspiration from the Gaiety in some of his later buildings which were built on restricted plots of land.

The theatre historian Gorel Garlick estimates that Frank Matcham spent three years in the capital during this time, which would seem probable as by 1871 Frank Matcham was back in Torquay and again under the guidance of Bridgeman, this time as his chief assistant.

Frank Matcham's intention was to buy a large property in the English countryside for his family.

Garlick considers it entirely possible that Frank Matcham was given responsibility for the design of the theatre because of his educational experiences in London.

The employment allowed Frank Matcham to become more familiar with what Frank Matcham's biographer Brian Mercer Walker calls, "theatre design of a high order".

Frank Matcham was entrusted by the family to continue with Robinson's designs which included the refurbishment of the Elephant and Castle Theatre, as well as the modifications to the Cambridge Music Hall in Shoreditch.

Frank Matcham found the rules to be problematic; because of them, the Elephant and Castle Theatre project had to be extended by six months.

In 1882 Frank Matcham took on the redesign of the Grand Theatre in Islington.

Outside of London, and prior to 1886, Frank Matcham only had two designs commissioned, both in Glasgow: Hengler's Grand Cirque and the Royalty Theatre.

Frank Matcham met the actor and theatrical manager James Elliston in 1886.

Revill contracted Frank Matcham to draw up designs for a new building after the hall was destroyed by a fire in 1887.

Frank Matcham was commissioned in 1888 by Revill's son, the theatre manager Wallace Revill, to design a new theatre on land he had purchased in St Helens, Lancashire.

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Frank Matcham made a rare appearance, on stage, that night, and assured the audience that during a fortnight's closure he would complete the designs.

Frank Matcham was afforded the benefit of being able to use the existing building, which increased the possibility of his being able to finish the project on time.

Frank Matcham's design allowed for it to be used as a circus and a theatre and for the venue to be changed between the two in a few hours.

Frank Matcham continued to work with Purcell until around 1908 when the latter decided to wind up the business.

Frank Matcham first worked for Moss Empires in 1892 on the Empire Palace, Edinburgh.

In total, Frank Matcham was responsible for designing 21 theatres for Moss and Stoll over a 20-year period which ended with the Wood Green Empire, in 1912.

Frank Matcham rushed together a secondary, cheaper design of the Empire's facade and presented it to Stoll on a piece of scrap tracing paper.

The exterior of the Empire was a design that Frank Matcham always loathed but was one, according to the historian Michael Sell, that demonstrated the architect's "seemingly endless powers of invention" and one that will "forever remain a landmark".

Coliseum, Frank Matcham encountered a problem; Stoll wanted the theatre to be the largest and most lavish in London.

Frank Matcham was concerned that the vast size would cause a reduction in sound quality and view to the stage; accordingly, he gave particular attention to the theatre's acoustics and designed the balconies so that they sloped towards the auditorium sides, rather than the more traditional method of being supported by pilotis; Frank Matcham pioneered the use of cantilevered steel in his designs, and took out patents to protect his work.

Frank Matcham rarely ventured away from theatres but did so on occasion.

Frank Matcham designed the Cross and County Arcades for the Leeds Estate Company, between 1898 and 1900, at the northernmost part of the street.

Frank Matcham created two new streets, Queen Victoria Street and King Edward Street, which run between Briggate and Vicar Lane.

Either way, Walker considered the project to be completely out of character for Frank Matcham who had previously displayed such energy and enthusiasm for all his designs.

Frank Matcham retired to Westcliff-on-Sea with his wife shortly before the First World War and left the running of the business to Chancellor and Briggs.

Frank Matcham died at his house, 28 Westcliff Parade, on 17 May 1920.

Frank Matcham's death was attributed to blood poisoning, brought about from cutting his finger nails too short.

Frank Matcham was a devoted if frequently absent husband and father.

Sydney Frank Matcham moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania, where he founded the Frank Matcham Travel Bureau, the city's first travel agency.

Frank Matcham's theatres were often mocked by architects during the five decades after his death, and little care was taken by local authorities to preserve them during area regeneration programmes, particularly during the 1960s.

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Total number of theatres Frank Matcham designed is unknown and has been the subject of much speculation.

On 22 November 2007 Frank Matcham was commemorated by English Heritage when a blue plaque was unveiled by the actor Timothy West and the actress Prunella Scales at Frank Matcham's former London home, 10 Haslemere Road, Hornsey.