Battersea Arts Centre

Located in the south-west London district of Battersea. Battersea Town Hall opened on 15th November 1893. Initially the building contained two large halls, that were used for concerts, dances, political meetings and social events. In 1900 the Grand Hall was equipped with a Norman & Beard 4 Manual ‘straight’ organ. Films were screened from 1908.

In 1950, there were screenings of two Russian films "Lenin in October" and "The Youth of the Wild". In 1974, it was re-named Battersea Arts Centre, and stage productions were the main programming. The Grand Hall now seats 200, studio 1 seats 70 and studio 2 seats 75.

The Battersea Arts Centre is a Grade II Listed building.

The building was nearing completion of a multi-million Pounds renovation including the Norman & Beard organ, when it was severely damaged by a huge fire on 13th March 2015. The Grand Hall was the most damaged part of the building, leaving only the outer walls standing. Most of the Norman & Beard organ was saved as it was away from the building being repaired. Unfortunately the organ console was lost to the fire and a new replica console was planned to be built. The following day after the fire, performances went ahead in the two smaller auditoriums. A fundraising drive was immediately begun to help with a rebuilding of the Grand Hall.

A £13.3m rebuild/restoration of the Grand Hall reopened on 6th September 2018 with the play “Missing” which was being presented at the time of the fire. The latticed ceiling is a replica of the original design.

Recent comments (view all 1 comments)

Biffaskin on October 14, 2023 at 6:42 pm

At the time of the fire in 2015, the majority of the organ was away for restoration/repairs so was saved from the ravages of the fire. Sadly, the console wasn’t so lucky and has had to be built again from photographs.