The Philharmonic Hall was built by the contractors Holland and Hannen on the site of some former tenements. It opened with a banquet on 7 November 1860. The Hall was the first of many places of entertainment that would be built on this site, culminating in the Islington Empire of 1908.
The Hall was redecorated in 1874 and the building was also renamed the Philharmonic Theatre, with a seating capacity for some 758 people. Alas it was destroyed by fire in September 1882. The Grand Theatre opened on its site in August 1883.
Like its predecessor, the (first) Grand Theatre was destroyed by fire, this time only four years after being built, during the staging of the annual Christmas pantomime on 29 December 1887.
The owners, Holt and Wilmot, immediately set about rebuilding the Theatre with Frank Matcham again doing the redesign. The second Grand Theatre reopened a year later on 1 December 1888 with a production of ’The Still Alarm’.
Despite constructing every available surface out of concrete, this Theatre too, like all its predecessors, was also devastated by fire on 26 February 1900. The fire broke out on a Monday morning when the Theatre had been staging the drama ’Hearts are Trumps’.
The third Grand Theatre was opened on 26 December 1900 with a production of the pantomime ’Robinson Crusoe’. Again the work was carried out under the supervision of Frank Matcham.
In 1908 the Grand Theatre was renamed the Islington Empire, running as a variety theatre by its manager Walter Gibbons. In 1912 the theatre was renamed again to the Islington Palace, run by Charles Guliver.
After being renamed back to the Islington Empire, it was turned over to full time cinema use and was taken over by the Associated British Cinemas chain in 1938.
ABC closed the cinema on the 10 March 1962. The auditorium was demolished and the site used as a car park, leaving only some of the exterior walls and facade still standing. The entrance of the former theatre became the entrance to the car park.
