LISLE STREET, LEICESTER SQUARE

This house in Lisle Street is a Grade II listed building so quite a lot of information was readily available. However, it seemed to focus on the fact that the building had been St John's Hospital for Diseases of the Skin from 1934 to 1989 - but there was very little on the history of the house before this. It was built in 1897 by Frank T. Verity, so I was keen to learn what it had been before it became a hospital in 1934

When I began looking into the history of the building, I discovered that it had first been built for the French Club, and soon after became the home of the famous French film company Pathe of France Ltd. I then found that until 1922 this house had also been the home of composer and songwriter James William Tate, who wrote a number of popular shows, including The Maid of the Mountains (1916), The Follies (1919) and Aladdin (1920). Tate had also been a popular performer as well as composer, and was musical director of Wyndham's Theatre.

“When I began looking into the history of the building, I discovered that it had first been built for the French Club”

When I researched Frank T. Verity, I discovered further connections between this house and the theatre. Verity was a well-known architect at the time, famous for his designs for theatres and cinemas - perhaps explaining the theatrical appearance of this house. He was appointed Lord Chamberlain's Surveyor of Theatres and, with his business partner Samuel Beverley, acted as European advisor to Paramount Pictures and the Union Cinema Company.