William George Robert Sprague (1865 – 4 December 1933) was a theatre architect.

Biography

He was born in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

in 1865, the son of actress Dolores Drummond, who returned with acclaim to London in 1874. Sprague was an

articled clerk Articled clerk is a title used in Commonwealth countries for one who is studying to be an accountant or a lawyer. In doing so, they are put under the supervision of someone already in the profession, now usually for two years, but previously three ...

for

Frank Matcham Francis Matcham (22 November 1854 – 17 May 1920)Mackintosh, Iain"Matcham, Frank" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, accessed 7 July 2019 was an English architect who specialised in the design of theatres and ...

for four years, then in 1880 was an

for Walter Emden for three years. He was in a partnership with Bertie Crewe until 1895. He went on to design a large number of theatres and

music hall Music hall is a type of British theatrical entertainment that was most popular from the early Victorian era, beginning around 1850, through the World War I, Great War. It faded away after 1918 as the halls rebranded their entertainment as Varie ...

s, almost all of them in London. At the height of his career he showed a productivity worthy of mentor Matcham, producing six theatres in

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

in less than four years. Unlike Matcham and Emden, Sprague studied architectural forms and conventions and used his knowledge in his designs, saying of himself that he "liked the Italian Renaissance" as a style for his frontages, but would take liberties when needed "to get the best effects" In 1902, the theatre newspaper ''The Era'' described him as "Britain's youngest theatrical designer, with more London houses to his credit than any other man in the same profession." In 1898, William Morton, owner and manager of the Greenwich Theatre, commissioned Sprague to produce plans for a 3,000-seat theatre to replace his existing theatre on a new site on London Street, but this was never followed through. Sprague married Isabel Katherine Bennett on 30 April 1900, and they had a son in 1907. Sprague died from heart failure at his home in

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...

on 4 December 1933.

Theatres

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sprague, W. G. R. 1865 births 1933 deaths Australian emigrants to the United Kingdom Theatre of the United Kingdom Theatre architects Architects from London