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Warminster Athenaeum

19th-century architecture in the United KingdomBuildings and structures completed in 1858Theatres in WiltshireUnited Kingdom theatre (structure) stubsWarminster
Wiltshire building and structure stubs
Athenaeum Centre, Warminster geograph.org.uk 239905
Athenaeum Centre, Warminster geograph.org.uk 239905

Warminster Athenaeum is a Victorian theatre in Warminster, Wiltshire, England, and a Grade II listed building. Built in Jacobean style in 1857/8 to designs by William Jervis Stent, it is held in trust on behalf of the residents of Warminster by a charitable trust and is Wiltshire's oldest working theatre. The building was originally a literary institution with a large lecture room, a reading room, classrooms and a library. Lectures, entertainment, plays and concerts were held. From 1895 the building was owned by the Urban District Council. In 1912, Albany Ward leased the auditorium and converted it into the Palace Cinema which was also used for plays, operas and music. It ran for fifty two years as a cinema, presenting over 13,000 films. Most parts of the building closed after falling into disrepair in December 1964, with just a gentlemen's club remaining on the first floor. The Athenaeum reopened after much restoration in 1969 as an Art Centre presenting an ambitious programme of arts; music, dance, cinema, plays, concerts and exhibitions. After falling into financial difficulty and liquidation, in February 1997, the building was rescued by a steering group who reformed the charity and reopened the whole building as The Athenaeum Centre for the Community in September 2000. The trust launched a restoration appeal, and by 2015 had already spent over £100,000 on the building, cleaning the facade, replacing the roof, and refurbishing the bar and function room. The Centre continues to host shows, plays, concerts, lectures and films.

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Warminster Athenaeum
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Wikipedia: Warminster AthenaeumContinue reading on Wikipedia

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N 51.2053 ° E -2.1823 °
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BA12 9AG , Warminster
England, United Kingdom
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Athenaeum Centre, Warminster geograph.org.uk 239905
Athenaeum Centre, Warminster geograph.org.uk 239905
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St Boniface College, Warminster
St Boniface College, Warminster

St Boniface College, Warminster, formerly St Boniface Missionary College, was an Anglican educational institution in the Wiltshire town of Warminster, England during the last third of the 19th century and the first two-thirds of the 20th.It was founded in 1860 by Sir James Erasmus Philipps, 12th Baronet, vicar of Warminster from 1859 to 1897, in a house on Church Road about 250m south of the parish church, St Denys'. At first it provided a place for young men without formal education to be trained for suitable employment, but soon narrowed its scope to train them specifically for missionary work. It gradually grew in size and by 1897 the foundation stone was laid for a permanent college, this being completed in 1901. Two former students of the college were martyred in China during the Boxer Rising: Harry Vine Norman and Charles Robinson, who were murdered in 1900. Another, Frederick Day of Stratton St Margaret near Swindon was murdered in North China on 4 March 1912.The college closed during both the First and Second World Wars, and was a postgraduate facility for King's College, London from 1948 until its eventual closure in 1969. The nearby Lord Weymouth's Grammar School then leased the buildings, and today they form part of Warminster School. The buildings are in three phases, beginning in 1796 with the central three-storey structure, described by Pevsner as a "handsome house". To the right is the 1897–1901 extension, neo-Jacobean in dressed stone, decorated with ornate features such as gabled dormers bearing finials. In 1927 a further large L-shaped extension was built to the left, to designs of Sir Charles Nicholson. This part, which includes a chapel and library, is described by Historic England as "quite impressive Gothic".