The Hippodrome

The block between Grosvenor Road and Glengall Street, Belfast, was originally a terrace of five-storey houses of ca 1835.

Georgian Terrace beside opera house pre-1905 (Image: Belfast Telegraph)

This Georgian terrace - known as Glengall Place -  was demolished in 1905 to make way for Mr Crewe's new theatre, The Hippodrome.

Glengall Place, Belfast

The Royal Hippodrome theatre (above), at the beginning of Great Victoria Street, stood next to the Grand Opera House.

It suffered an unsympathetic renovation in 1960, when much of the façade was altered.

The towers were lopped off and replaced by the hideous "face-lift" shown below.

It was subsequently renamed the Odeon cinema.

Its name changed, again, in 1974 to become the New Vic cinema.

The former Hippodrome was finally demolished in 1998 to make way for a new hotel, the Fitzwilliam Hotel, and an extension to the opera house.

First published in July, 2013.