Empire, Leicester Square
Originally a Victorian Music Hall, opening in 1884, the first moving pictures in Britain were shown here by the Lumiere Brothers in 1896. (Barker’s Rotunda (above) was the forerunner of cinema. The theatre was replaced by this building in 1928, updated to multiscreen use in the 1960s with its stalls becoming the Mecca Ballroom.
Hippodrome
Built in 1900 by famed theatre architect Frank Matcham. Originally a circus – ‘hippo’ means horse – with a 100,000 gallon water spectacle, then a theatre where Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake had its English première in 1910. Houdini, Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland and Stevie Wonder are among those artists who have performed here.
Odeon Leicester Square
Built in 1937 on the site of the Alhambra music hall, this is the UK’s largest single screen cinema. It still has a working Compton organ and the magnificent art-deco auditorium, featuring two naked nymphs, has been partially restored. Its 1,683 seats make it popular for film premieres and the square has been redesigned for them.
The square was laid out in 1670 near the former house of the Earl of Leicester, lived in during the 1730s by Frederick, Prince of Wales – eldest son of George II and father of George III. Beneath is the West End’s main electric sub-station, its cabling connected by tunnel to Wimbledon.
Tube: Leicester Square
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Leicester Square
Sir Charlie Chaplin
Chaplin’s Tramp character featured in the first movie trailer to be seen in a US movie theater in 1914. Born in South London, he had a string of affairs, married two under-age girls, and had 11 children. This statue is by John Doubleday (see his Sherlock Holmes near Baker Street Tube station).
Leicester Square WC2
Tube: Leicester Square
John Hunter
A founder of ‘scientific surgery’, Scots-born John Hunter came to London in 1748. As an army surgeon, he developed new treatments for gunshot wounds. Moving to 28 Leicester Square in 1783, his teaching museum - with a kangaroo specimen donated by Captain Cook - became world-famous.
Notre Dame De France
Jean Cocteau frescoes and the altar’s Robert de Chaunac tapestry make this a unique space. Artist Robert Barker built a Rotunda on the site in 1793 for his patented circular panoramas - the Battle of Waterloo made a fortune - hence the round footprint of the church. It dates to 1868, though rebuilt after heavy WWII bomb damage.
5 Leicester Place WC2
William Hogarth
Trained as an engraver, Hogarth had his own printing business in 1720, using his spare time to learn to paint. He became famous for his morality paintings - published as engravings. These were so popular that his campaign against the pirating of his work led to the Copyright Act of 1735. A full-length statue stands in Chiswick.
Joshua Reynolds
Plymouth-born Reynolds (1723-1792) came to London to study art in 1740. A disciple of William Hogarth, he also studied in Rome before setting up as the most fashionable portrait painter of the time. The first president of the Royal Academy in 1768, he was knighted in 1769. His full-length statue stands at the Royal Academy.
