Old Orchard Street Theatre in Bath, Somerset, England, was built as a provincial theatre before becoming a Roman Catholic church. Since 1865, it has been a Masonic Hall.

Venue: Old Orchard Street Theatre
Address: 12 Old Orchard Street, Bath, Avon, BA1 1JU, England
Town: Bath and North East Somerset, GB

Old Orchard Street Theatre in Bath, Somerset, England, was built as a provincial theatre before becoming a Roman Catholic church. Since 1865, it has been a Masonic Hall. It is a Grade II listed building. In 1705 the first theatre opened in Bath. The building by George Trim was small and cramped and made little profit in the years before its demolition in 1738. The site it was on is now the Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases. A New Theatre opened in Kingsmead Street in 1723 and operated until 1751. In 1747 John Hippisley proposed the construction of a new theatre and a revised version in 1748 just before his death. The planning was taken over by John Palmer, a local brewer and chandler, and Thomas Jelly. The site for a new theatre was chosen by John Wood, the Elder, who laid out much of the city, on the site of the old orchard of Bath Abbey. Construction work for the theatre in Old Orchard Street began in 1748, to designs by the architect Thomas Jolly of Hippesley and Watts, with the work being completed by John Powell in 1750. The theatre was 60 feet (18 m) long and 40 feet (12 m) board. The theatre, known as The St James Theatre, opened on 27 October, under the management of John Palmer, with a performance of William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part 2. Palmer obtained a royal patent by the Bath Theatre Act 1768 (8 Geo. 3. c. 10) which enabled the use of the title 'Theatre Royal'; the first to achieve this outside London. He handed control to his son, also John Palmer who worked as his father's London agent, frequently travelling between London and Bath. Palmer also owned the Theatre Royal, King Street, in Bristol, which now houses the Bristol Old Vic. The two theatres shared one acting company, so Palmer had to move his actors, stagehands and props quickly between Bristol and Bath, he set up a coach service which provided safe, quick and efficient transport for his actors and materials. Later, when Palmer became involved in the Post Office, he believed that