Festival Theatre Edinburgh, Nicolson Street building photos, Architect, Location, Date, Pictures

Festival Theatre Edinburgh Building

Lyric Theatre + Opera House on Nicolson St, Edinburgh, Scotland, design by LDN Architects

post updated 28 October 2023 + 7 July 2023 ; 7 January 2022 + 28 July 2021

Festival Theatre in Edinburgh

Location: 13-29 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, southeast Scotland, UK

Date built: 1994

Architects: LDN

Phone +44 (0)131 662 1112

Festival Theatre Edinburgh building
photo of building main facade © Adrian Welch

22 Jul 2010

Festival Theatre Extension News

Proposals to carry out an extension to the Festival Theatre have come under fire from The Cockburn Association has written to the Lord Provost in an attempt to block plans for a £2.8 million development. The Festival Theatre extension, which will provide a practice stage, currently depends on the land to the rear of the building being sold.

Festival Theatre Edinburgh
building picture © Adrian Welch, 2009

Campaigners have said that the proposed student housing and office block would ruin the look of the area, which is home to the university’s Old College. Marion Williams, director of the Cockburn Association, said that the plans would also rule out future stage expansion. However Council sources say that the extension would have to be indefinitely shelved if the student development is axed.

Festival Theatre Edinburgh building
Nicolson Street building photograph © Adrian Welch, 2009

28 Jan 2009

Festival Theatre Extension

£2m rehearsal space behind the Festival Theatre is set for planning approval. This building extenison would be funded by building student flats between the new space and South College Street.

Edinburgh Festival Theatre
building photo © Adrian Welch, 2009

The re-vitalisation of the existing, Grade B listed, auditorium of the 1928 Empire Theatre to form a Lyric Theatre & Opera House – Festival Theatre Edinburgh – will maintain its basic virtues of size and acoustic performance. However, it will also increase the stage area (now the largest in the UK), orchestra pit and back-of-house facilities to accommodate even the largest performance requirements.

Edinburgh Festival Theatre Nicolson St, Edinburgh
Nicolson St building facade images from LDN

Now one of the World’s leading auditoria for opera, ballet, music and theatre, the interface between new glassy atrium of the Edinburgh Festival Theatre and decorative and richly-coloured auditorium is marked.

Scottish opera, Scottish ballet Edinburgh Opera House
Nicolson Street building interior images from LDN Architects

The facade is a structural tour de force and Edinburgh’s only real example of the era’s hi-tech phase popularised down south by Rogers, Foster and Hopkins et al.
Edinburgh Opera House
facade at night image supplied by LDN Architects

Build cost approximate: £15m

This Scottish capital Arts venue with Old College beyond:
Festival Theatre Edinburgh Festival Theatre Edinburgh
picture © Adrian Welch

A view of the entrance:
Scottish Opera House
image from LDN Architects

This Arts venue in the Scottish capital city is part of the Edinburgh Old Town Tour.

Scottish Ballet Building
facade photo from LDN

Festival Theatre Edinburgh Box Office
Phone 0131 529 6000

Foyer view:
Theatre Box Office
foyer image from LDN Architects

Edinburgh Festival Theatre Edinburgh Theatre
detail + main facade photos by AW

Address
Festival City Theatres Trust, 13/29 Nicolson Street, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.
Phone: 0131 662 1112

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Comments / photos for the Festival Theatre Edinburgh architecture designed by LDN Architects at 13-29 Nicolson Street in southeast Scotland, United Kingdom, page welcome.