What became of Chiltern Hall at Baker Street?

[burkitt]

When Baker Street was extensively redeveloped by the Metropolitan Railway, it included the Chiltern Hall, a 4500 square foot ballroom space with a stage at one end which opened in September 1930. According to archive drawings, this was in the basement of Farley Court, the block of flats on Alsop Place.

The Met advertised the hall for public hire, though apparently it was never profitable, and London Transport staff magazines of the 1930s promote staff dances being held there. However I can find no mention of the hall's fate from the late 1930s onwards - I'm guessing WW2 may have played a role in its closure.
Does anyone know when it closed and what has become of the space since?

[tjw]

There is a poster in the LTM collection, www.ltmuseum.co.uk/collections/collections-online/posters/item/1995-558

[Chris L]

The poster suggests it was part of Chiltern Court which is on the Baker Street side.

[dpr]

Would that be linked with what is now the Wetherspoons there? 'The Metropolitan Bar'. Always thought it was very grand inside!

kdpaine.co.uk/portfolio_page/the-metropolitan-bar/

[Chris L]

Dec 8, 2022 20:55:31 GMT dpr said:

Would that be linked with what is now the Wetherspoons there? 'The Metropolitan Bar'. Always thought it was very grand inside!

kdpaine.co.uk/portfolio_page/the-metropolitan-bar/

The picture on the museum poster shows it didn't have the columns as in the Metropolitan bar which used to be a staff restaurant.

[burkitt]

Thanks everyone for your thoughts so far. The LTM poster is one of the very few elements of publicly available information about Chiltern Hall, and the only image I know of showing the hall's interior. It's part of the Metropolitan Railway's publicity efforts after it opened in 1930.

I have found only two good published sources about the hall. The 1931 edition of the Metropolitan Railway's Metroland brochure includes a promotional piece about the recently completed Chiltern Court flats, the Chiltern Court restaurant, and Chiltern Hall, as well as the more familiar content on suburban developments. Here's an excerpt of the description of the hall.
"With regard to Chiltern Hall this may claim to be a Banqueting Hall, a Dance Hall and an Entertainment Hall in one. It has a floor area of 4,400 square feet, a well-appointed stage and in addition a commodious Foyer, a Crush Hall and a handsome Reception Room. For banquets and receptions, and also for dances and cabarets, Chiltern Hall will undoubtedly soon become the recognised venue, whilst for concerts, public meetings and such-like events, the Hall will also be found appropriate. A full music and dancing licence has been secured, and lighting and carnival effects representing the very latest vogue have also been installed."

The other source is Alan A Jackson's London's Metropolitan Railway, which gives the opening date and early commercial arrangements. Management of the hall was contracted to Spiers and Pond, well established operators of station refreshment rooms on the Met. The Met clearly wanted Chiltern Hall to be a major venue but this did not materialise. It quickly ran into difficulties, running at a loss and generating noise complaints from the residents of the flats above.

I have access to the architect's drawings of the Chiltern Court development. These show Chiltern Hall was at basement level in the Farley Court building which is effectively the east wing of Chiltern Court, parallel with Alsop Place. The entrance was to the south, and the stage at the north end. Unfortunately I cannot share these publicly, but I have produced a rough sketch below.




Several editions of the staff magazine Pennyfare mention staff dances at Chiltern Hall in the 1930s after London Transport took over. These are available online from the TfL Archives. (search in page for Chiltern Hall to find the references)

Beyond that, I can find nothing online, in books or any other sources mentioning what happened to Chiltern Hall - when did it close, what has the rather large space been used for over the years, and what is in that location today?

The current Metropolitan Bar Wetherspoons was originally the Chiltern Court restaurant, which according to Jackson's London's Metropolitan Railway opened on 15th November 1929. It had 250 seats, was managed by Spiers and Pond, and quickly ran into commercial difficulties because the original decor was apparently already considered very dated and unattractive at the time of opening. After a £1500 refurbishment in 1932, it operated until at least 1973 when John Betjeman visited at the start of his Metroland film. For some period between the 1970s and 1990s it became a London Transport recruitment centre, but I've been unable to find more precise dates than the recruitment centre opened after 1973 and closed later than when a colleague visited when joining the business in 1989. If anyone has any details of the recruitment centre I'd be very interested in these too! 
I believe the Wetherspoons opened in the 2000s but again, can't find any published dates for this.

[philthetube]

I joined in 1995 as a guard and had my interviews at Baker St.

[Chris L]

I wonder if this is what became the rifle range?

There certainly was a facility at Baker Street used by an LT staff club.

[burkitt]

Phil that's great to know you used the recruitment centre in 1995, that extends the earliest date it could have closed by another six years.
Chris, the suggestion of the rifle range being in the old Chiltern Hall is a really good one. I'll have a look into that and see if I can find confirmation anywhere.

[towerman]

I always thought the rifle range was in a basement at Baker St.

[Tom]

Dec 10, 2022 21:34:46 GMT burkitt said:

Phil that's great to know you used the recruitment centre in 1995, that extends the earliest date it could have closed by another six years.

I'm fairly sure the 1998 intake of Engineering Apprentices passed through the recruitment centre at Baker Street, I'll ask one of them to confirm.

[Hutch]

On the linked NLS map dated 1952 there is a Time News cinema marked in the proximity of the old parcels office that might fit the bill. Certainly todays Street Map looks like there was a late '50s early '60s conversion of the lower floors to offices below the Metropolitan Railway built flats above.

[towerman]

Had to go to Baker St for initial interview for line controller.

[jimbo]

Dec 11, 2022 10:21:56 GMT Hutch said:

On the linked NLS map dated 1952 there is a Time News cinema marked in the proximity of the old parcels office that might fit the bill. Certainly todays Street Map looks like there was a late '50s early '60s conversion of the lower floors to offices below the Metropolitan Railway built flats above.

I can see the old loco spur by the signalbox, and the coal siding for Chiltern Court!

[Chris L]

Dec 11, 2022 10:21:56 GMT Hutch said:

On the linked NLS map dated 1952 there is a Time News cinema marked in the proximity of the old parcels office that might fit the bill. Certainly todays Street Map looks like there was a late '50s early '60s conversion of the lower floors to offices below the Metropolitan Railway built flats above.

More details of the cinema.

cinematreasures.org/theaters/13070

[burkitt]

The former parcels depot, which was just east of the Chiltern Court restaurant was converted into a cinema in 1938. It was originally a single screen newsreel cinema, later becoming a regular feature cinema and drawings show the screen was divided into two smaller theatres.
The cinema closed in 1999, becoming a gift shop which had itself now closed.
Before conversion to a cinema, detailed plans were drawn up in the 1930s to turn the parcels depot into a masonic temple.

I did think the Chiltern Hall ballroom might have become the cinema as the dates line up, but the locations of each within the station complex are totally different.

[burkitt]

I've just had a look at the drawings archive and although the rifle range was indeed at sub-basement level, it was underneath the western wing alongside Baker Street, rather than the eastern Alsop Place wing where the Chiltern Hall ballroom was. So sadly although that was a great theory, the fate of Chiltern Hall remains a mystery!

[Chris L]

Dec 12, 2022 9:49:27 GMT burkitt said:

I've just had a look at the drawings archive and although the rifle range was indeed at sub-basement level, it was underneath the western wing alongside Baker Street, rather than the eastern Alsop Place wing where the Chiltern Hall ballroom was. So sadly although that was a great theory, the fate of Chiltern Hall remains a mystery!

The shooting range was used for training by the SOE during the war.

[burkitt]

I've found the answer to the fate of the Chiltern Court ballroom and it's the most boring one possible. The space has been converted into an underground car park, with architect's drawings showing this happened in the mid 1950s. The access ramp can be seen in Google maps etc, leading from Alsop Place, through an archway in the greetings floor of Farley Court, and into the basement.

I'd still be interested to know if it had any interim uses, especially during WW2.

I've discovered there was a 96 bed air raid shelter next to the rifle range, with access by walking the length of the of the shooting range. I guess SOE had to pause their practice while shelterers were using it!

The whole history of Baker Street station, Chiltern Court, and it's many uses and residents is fascinating and seems worthy of a dedicated book.

[miff]

This blog includes a photo of the rear of Farley Court, saying the present building is a 1950s block constructed on the “bombed east wing of Chiltern Court”.

machorne.wordpress.com/2013/12/29/historic-january-a-monthly-digest-of-historic-dates-relating-to-the-london-underground/

[miff]

The map at Bombsight.org records a high explosive bomb fell on Allsop Place sometime in 1940 or ‘41. The location is plotted upon Farley Court, close to where the theatre stage would have been.

[selbiehouse]

I wondered if Chiltern Court Hall had been bombed. The 1945 LPTB Annual Report records a summary of war-time events. It states that the Baker Street offices suffered bomb damage but no mention is made of Chiltern Court Hall. When I started work at Selbie House in 1963 there was a convenient short cut to Allsop Place through a gap in a wall and the entrance to the underground car park.

[metman]

I’ve certainly seen photos of damage to Baker Street during the war. Obviously it was business as usual!

[milkybarkid]

One tiny bit of early history on Chiltern Court Hall: my dad told me recently about his days as a ballroom dancer when he was younger. He was named British Junior Ballroom champion twice in his youth, and says he danced a few times at Chiltern Court Hall during the war. He says was dancing there in national competitions when he was 12 or 13, which would have been in 1943/44. So it may well have escaped the Blitz, or at least been only partially damaged and reopened before the end of the war. That's all I've got!

[burkitt]

That's a fantastic addition to the history of Chiltern Hall, thank you! If dancing competitions were held there as late as 1943-44, that does indeed prove it wasn't destroyed by bombing prior to then. It also suggests the ballroom had no alternative wartime purpose that would preclude its use for dancing - eg it hadn't been turned into offices, air raid shelter accommodation etc.